No Ordinary Voyage
by jaguar-kally7
Summary: Jim joins the Interloper's crew for a quick break from the Academy. Once onboard, he realizes there's more to the Interloper and her crew than meets the eye... [COMPLETE]
1. Off Again

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 1: Off Again  
  
I remember the day I stepped aboard The Interloper. The skies were clear - perfect spacing conditions; the solar sails would fill and allow us to get out quickly. My mother was standing on the dock, waving goodbye. After only two years at the Academy, I was already off. It wasn't as a full-fledged spacer yet, of course. I just needed to get rid of the cabin fever I felt often on Montressor. Cooped up in the school buildings, all I wanted was the find myself back on a ship. I wanted to be back in space so badly, I didn't care that The Interloper was an ordinary ship that shuttled people and goods back and forth between planets.  
  
I remember the shock I got, seeing the captain of the Interloper. He was eighteen and therefore old enough to own a boat and call himself a spacer. Remember, the Academy is for those who want to be part of the government's fleet - and for those like myself who prove promising to other spacers like Captain Amelia. But this boy had never gone to the Academy; The Interloper was a family ship, and he'd just inherited it.  
  
Peter Helikos was his name. He had dark eyes and dark brown hair, though his hair also had reddish tones from being out in the sun.He was confident and bursting with youthful exuberance - now I know why Captain Amelia had said that we might or might not get along. As he walked around the ship, I could see how much his men respected him, even though some of them were born one or two generations before he had. It was the small group of passengers that were doubtful, but I could also see that Captain Helikos was used to that.  
  
I remember how nervous I was when I finally met the Captain, and how he put me at ease. "Welcome aboard the Interloper. You must be the Academy boy, Hawkins. Glad to have you." He gave a winning smile and continued, "Captain Amelia told me all about your adventures, Mr. Hawkins. I know several men aboard who'd love to hear about them. I'm afraid I have some bad news for you, though. If you're expecting an adventure, you won't get any. This is just an ordinary run to Takara." He was wrong.  
  
I tried to smile back at him and said, "I don't care, sir. I just wanted to be back onboard anything." He gave me a hearty slap on the back - not unlike Captain Amelia's.  
  
"That's the spirit, Hawkins," he said. Then, with his hand still on my shoulder, he pointed to the person at the helm. "Go on up there and meet the First Mate; you'll get help settling into life on the Interloper. I still have to get some last few things in order." Before I could say anything, he was gone.  
  
I looked up at the person standing there, and my mouth dropped open.  
  
Yes, oh, yes, I remember the First Mate. That was mainly because I didn't expect him to be a her.  
  
"Come on up," she called, smiling. I slowly climbed up the stairs and stood a few feet away. She smiled up at me expectantly - yes, I was taller than her. "Hawkins, right? I'm sure the Captain welcomed you aboard. We'll get you settled in as soon as we push off. Don't worry, you don't have to be cabin boy on the Interloper."  
  
Her face was strangely familiar. It was framed by short auburn hair and swept into a bandanna - obviously the Interloper wasn't as formal a ship as others; just seeing the captain made that clear. Anyhow, the First Mate's almond eyes were a pale green, and the corners of her mouth turned up slightly in a cat's smile. She had a slim, limber body and long, tapered fingers. These fingers now moved toward me from her outstretched hand as she began to say something. Suddenly, there was a piercing whistle, and Peter's booming voice filled the air.  
  
"Let's go, people, we're pushing off! You there, get moving! Felix! Felix, get down here!"  
  
The girl rolled her eyes. Apparently, she was Felix. "Let's go," she said. I moved toward the stairs, but she sprung up onto the railing in a headstand and then flipped off, landing nimbly on her feet next to Peter on the deck. They exchanged smiles, and then Felix started barking out the orders. As the Interloper began to move, it crossed my mind that this was not going to be an ordinary voyage after all. 


	2. First Impressions

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 2: First Impressions  
  
I stood there dumbfounded at the top of the steps, watching Felix and Captain Helikos giving out orders. It was amazing, watching the hands salute a girl and a boy half their size. The crew did indeed have a lot of respect for their commanding officers, no matter how young they were.  
  
I was abruptly pulled out of my stupor when Felix called out, "Hawkins! Close that open mouth and secure those crates!"  
  
"A - Aye, ma'am!" I called out, running quickly to the brubloo crates. I grabbed a rope and tied those crates together with a knot and with speed that would have done Long John Silver proud, but when I looked up, neither the First Mate nor the Captain were giving me any attention. They were too busy getting the ship in order.  
  
I shook my head. I was on a ship again. That was all that mattered, right? But a voice in my head was laughing and saying, 'Here we go again, Jim. Always have to have attention. Always have to show off...'  
  
"You need help with those, Hawkins?" Felix suddenly called out. I looked up at her from under the crates, which were now carried on my shoulders. I smiled and shook my head, even though they were quite heavy.  
  
"Get those things to the hull, then," she said. Her mouth was still curled in a half-smile, and her eyes watched me curiously, as if they were expecting something. Then Captain Helikos called out, "Prepare to launch!"  
  
Within seconds, the ship lurched forward, catching me off-guard. As I struggled to regain my footing, I stumbled backwards and tripped on a pile of rope, causing all the crates to fall. As I lay there, gasping for breath in shock, the First Mate's face appeared above me. She was shaking her head, grinning.  
  
She held out her hand to help me up and said, "Not making a good first impression, are we, Hawkins?" I was immediately aware of the crew who had stopped to see what had happened. As Felix spoke, they laughed, and I reddened.  
  
I felt angry at Felix for being so quick and at the crew for laughing at me, but I was more angry at myself for losing control like a first-time spacer. Ignoring her outstretched hand, I got up and started repacking the brubloo crates that had burst open, not meeting anyone's gaze.  
  
Then, as if to humiliate me even more, the First Mate called out to one of the crew, "Ranga! Help Mr. Hawkins with these brubloos, will you?" More laughter filled the air as Felix stepped away. Out of the corner of my eye, she went to the helm and stood at the Captain's side. Captain Helikos was laughing to himself. His arms were crossed, and he whispered something to Felix. The two of them laughed again.  
  
Meanwhile, while my blood began to boil, a pair of silver feet appeared in my field of vision. I glanced upward and took note of the crewman now helping me with the crates. He was a Grahonian, which explained the silver skin. "I can do it myself, thank - "  
  
"Oh, no," he said at my angry tone. "You don't want to make the Captain's impression of you even worse, do you?" I glanced at the young man at the helm. He was watching me with the same intent, curious gaze that Felix had given me before my accident.  
  
"I'm Ranga," the crewman said. "After we fix these things, I'll show you your berth and give you your duties. You'll report to me, not to the Captain or," he added with a twinkle in his eye, "the First Mate."  
  
Trying to forget what had happened, I asked hopefully, "You don't work in the galley, do you?" 


	3. The Captain and the First Mate

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 3: The Captain and the First Mate  
  
Ranga laughed. From this I gathered that the crew knew who I was and what I'd been through on Treasure Planet. "No," he answered, "you don't have to worry about galley work. That's the cabin boy's duty." He gestured at me, and I blinked in shock. Then I looked behind me and saw a boy struggling with a pail of water. Ranga laughed again as I sighed in relief.  
  
I had to smile at the old Grahonian. He obviously meant to be a friend. "The Interloper doesn't just carry cargo, it carries the few passengers we pick up here and there," he said. "So, among other things, I, Ranga, am in charge of 'passenger relations'."  
  
=*=  
  
A day later, in one of the cabins, I found myself muttering, "Passenger relations. THIS is passenger relations?!" I was making beds, taking out garbage, and cleaning toilets - not unlike the work I did at the Benbow.  
  
As I carried the rubbish bins up on deck, I sighed to myself and said, "At least I've been upgraded from cabin boy." I smiled a bit as I passed Sylik, who quietly swabbed the deck. He was more timid than I was, so I can't say that I saw myself in him. Ranga told me later that Sylik's parents didn't have too much money, and he took on as much work as a ten-year-old boy could. He was also new aboard the Interloper.  
  
Watching Sylik, I wasn't watching where I was going and bumped into someone. This time, though, I didn't drop the bins or spill any garbage. And I was thankful, because I'd bumped into Felix, the First Mate.  
  
She smiled goodnaturedly. "Glad to see you've got your balance back, Mr. Hawkins. And Ranga tells me that the passengers are quite satisfied with the upkeep of their cabins. Keep it up."  
  
I was stupefied by the compliment, but I nodded. I watched as she walked up the stairs to the helm, where she joined the Captain. Since I was walking backwards, I bumped into Ranga, this time spilling a bit of the garbage.  
  
"Ah, Hawkins, look. You've dirtied up the deck, and Sylik just finished swabbing it."  
  
"I'll - I'll get on it quickly, sir..." I mumbled. Ranga noticed that I was watching Felix and the Captain together and cleared his throat. The first thing I said was, "Ranga, why do the First Mate and the Captain stay together like that? It seems that whenever either one of them has free time, they join the other wherever they are."  
  
Ranga spoke as he picked up the garbage on the deck and put it back in the bin. I was too busy watching Felix and Captain Helikos to help. She was sitting on the railing, laughing at something he had said. Anyhow, Ranga sighed and said, "They stick together because all that they have left is the Interloper and each other..."  
  
"What do you mean?" I asked as Ranga took the bin from my hands. As I watched, the Second Mate took over at the helm, and Captain Helikos started some playful roughhousing with Felix. She played along, jabbing back at him and dodging his punches.  
  
"Hawkins, when things fall apart and the world seems to be against you, who do you turn to?" he asked.  
  
"My mother," I mumbled. I was still watching the two absentmindedly when Ranga handed me a mop. He smiled.  
  
"That's right, Hawkins. You turn to your family. And that's what Peter and Felixa Helikos are. Family."  
  
I blinked and turned to Ranga. "What? You mean, they're married?!"  
  
Ranga shook his head. "Don't joke around, Hawkins. Can't you see how much they look alike? They're brother and sister." I raised my eyebrows. No wonder Felix's - or Felixa's - face was familiar - I'd been seeing her brother's face from the start of the voyage. "Besides," Ranga continued, "Peter's got a wife, and a son, just born. Why do you think he's so happy to be heading back to Takara?"  
  
I raised my eyebrows again. Wife? Son? Wasn't he a bit... young? What did his parents think? And then I remembered what Captain Amelia told me: "Two years ago, the Captain inherited the ship from his father..."  
  
Inherited... "Ranga, what happened to their parents?" Felix was laughing now as the Captain teetered on the railing. His body threatened to pull him backwards and overboard, but he grabbed a part of the rigging and swung around to safety. Ranga sighed. "Their father was Captain of the Interloper before him, but he died, just two years ago. And their mother died of a sickness, when Felix there was only three and Peter five."  
  
So it was no wonder that the Captain and the First Mate were always together. He was the big brother; he had to take care of her. Ranga continued, "Peter became the legal Captain of the Interloper the moment he turned eighteen. The first thing he did as Captain Peter Helikos was make Felix the First Mate. That way, they would always be together."  
  
I started to think again. "Ranga, how do you know all this? How come you call Captain Helikos and the First Mate 'Felix' and 'Peter'? And who was their father?"  
  
He smiled sadly, picked up the bin, and turned away. Before I could call him back for his answer, he called over his shoulder, "That's someone else's story to tell."  
  
At that moment, the wind picked up. It grabbed Felix's bandanna, pulled it from her hair, and swept it toward me. I caught it before it blew past, and when I turned back, she was watching me, smiling. 


	4. Call me Felix

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 4: Call me Felix  
  
Captain Helikos pulled out an old pocket watch and then ran off suddenly, waving goodbye at Felix. He often disappeared like that, and now that I knew a bit about him, I guessed that he might be off to write to his wife. It was still hard to believe he was married, knowing he was only eighteen, just a year older than me.  
  
But now I looked back at Felix. She was still smiling at me, and she even waved casually. She and the Captain even waved the same way. I heard someone clear his throat, and then the same person gave me a little nudge from behind. I recognized the chuckle that was common to a lot of Grahonians, and I rolled my eyes at Ranga. But he nudged me again, so I began walking toward the First Mate.  
  
All the while, she watched me. I was starting to dread that curious stare of hers, and it wasn't easy. I thought, 'What is she thinking? Am I walking straight? What am I doing?' I heard taunts and cheers from the other crewmen as they went about on deck, and I began to feel more nervous than ever. I'd approached a lot of people tougher than John Silver's hardest men (and I'd run from a lot of them, too). But it felt funny, walking toward Felix right now. She did, after all, outrank me. And she was, after all, about my age.  
  
Trying to fold the bandanna up carefully, I said, "Ma'am, I, uh - ahem - believe this is yours..." I was such an idiot, I only reminded myself of that bumbling Doctor Doppler. I suddenly wished it was him returning the bandanna and me standing by the railing, laughing.  
  
But, once again, the First Mate interrupted my thoughts. "Thanks, Hawkins." She ran a hand through her dark hair and tied it up again. The retreating sun cast a strange glow on her face, and she turned and smiled again.  
  
"Uh, you're - um, ah..."  
  
"Welcome?" she suggested.  
  
I blushed. "Yes ma'am." I decided to turn around and leave now, before I embarrassed myself even more. But, no -   
  
"Hawkins?"  
  
I tried not to sigh loud enough for her to hear. "Yes, ma'am?"  
  
"I didn't say you were dismissed, Hawkins."  
  
I groaned inwardly. A group of crewmen were gathering on the other side of the deck now. I knew that none of them, especially Ranga, would let me live this down. I was wishing even more madly for Doctor Doppler - or anyone - to be in my place... And then, Felix did something unexpected: she saved me.  
  
"Hey, back to work, all of you!"  
  
There were aye-aye's all around, but everyone was still grinning. Slowly though, they went on their way, even Ranga. I felt relieved, but I was still with the First Mate. I needed to excuse myself. "Ma'am, I believe that Ranga still has some work for me to do..."  
  
"All right then. Thanks again, and - dismissed." I turned again. "Hawkins?"  
  
"Yes ma'am?"  
  
She laughed. "Enough with this ma'am junk, Hawkins, it makes me look better than everyone else. Call me Felix. Everyone does," she said. "And the Captain would rather have you call him Peter, or Captain Peter if you must." She saw my surprised look and added, "Come on, Hawkins. By now you should know that you aren't on an ordinary ship."  
  
I had to smile a little. "It certainly hasn't been an ordinary voyage, ma'am. Felix."  
  
"Like I said, Jim," she said, with some emphasis on my name, "dismissed." 


	5. Quiet

Author's Note: Just a reminder/request - if you like my characters, please don't use them without my permission. They're based on people I know in real life, created also with their permission. The only characters I don't own in this story are those that appeared in Treasure Planet, which I don't own either.  
  
No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 5: Quiet  
  
As the days went by, I truly did see how informal the crew was around Felix and her brother, Captain Peter. They traded stories, sang, and even played practical jokes on each other. But I did notice that it was only Ranga who called the Captain by his first name; to everyone else, including me, they were like royalty.  
  
That's a strange idea, too, considering that the Helikos siblings weren't very wealthy. Like Ranga said, all they really had was the Interloper and each other. Captain Peter and his wife had a small home in Takara, but they would have to leave soon; the way Felix told it, Takara didn't always welcome the Helikoses home. But I suppose we saw them as royalty, or somehow above us, because they were classy in their own ways.  
  
Now I knew why Captain Amelia suggested that I join the Interloper's crew for the summer - she knew that the Interloper's Captain and crew would treat me just the way I'd like to be treated. I didn't want to be treated like a child, but I knew I wasn't exactly a man yet. So, I was glad when I discovered that Captain Peter didn't expect too little or too much from me. He was simply glad to have an extra hand on board.  
  
Captain Peter, though only a year older than myself, was soon on my albeit short list of male role models. He treated his men like equals. He was charming and friendly most of the time, but he definitely knew when to be serious.  
  
Because the Captain had been practically raised on the Interloper, he had grown up among the crew. When Peter Helikos became Captain Helikos three months ago, some of the crewmen wanted to leave. They believed that he saw himself as better than they were, when Captain Peter only saw himself as their leader now. When it finally came down to choosing sides, Peter Helikos proved that he could fill his father's shoes better than expected; over three-fourths of the original Interloper crew, including Ranga, stayed.  
  
As for Felix, she had been living on and off the Interloper since she could crawl. Her father, and later Peter, had raised her to be as good a spacer as any I've seen. She, too, was charming and goodnatured. And she, too, knew how to be firm. And so, while everyone had fun with her now and then, they still saw her as a princess.  
  
And, as the days went by, I noticed that the few passengers on the Interloper stayed away from the Helikoses. Any contact between them was minimal. I noticed that the passengers, unless addressed directly, never spoke to the Captain or First Mate at all unless they had a complaint. Most inquiries were answered by Ranga or myself. Slowly, I learned that most if not all of the passengers were very much unlike the crew. They had very little respect for the brother and sister and only rode on the Interloper because of the low fare that the Captain charged.  
  
This caused different reactions in the Helikoses. Sadness would suddenly creep into the Captain's eyes whenever he had to listen to a complaint, or whenever he would overhear some comment about a "reckless whippersnapper running the ship". As for Felix, she would bite her lip in anger, reply calmly, and then storm off to her favorite spot: the railing by the helm.  
  
One day, I was helping Sylik carry his buckets of water up to the deck when I looked up and saw Felix leaning on the railing, staring into the emptiness of space. Even from where I stood, I could tell that she was more sad than angry. She was quiet like that more often now. When I asked Ranga why, he would say again that it wasn't his story to tell.  
  
Suddenly, she was aware of my watching her and looked back down at me. I quickly looked away and handed Sylik the first bucket of water before setting the second one down. But I could still feel her eyes on the back of my head, and I wasn't surprised when she called down, "Jim, would you come up here, please?"  
  
Slowly, I made my way up the steps and stood there at the top, not sure how near to her I could come. I shook off the brief vision of myself standing much, much closer, and touching her hand... What was I thinking?  
  
"Stand here, Jim, so you can see," she said. She touched a part of the railing, indicating that I stand next to her. I watched her eyes, and she looked at me, smiling. This smile was a bit sad. "Do you see that blue dot there, Jim? The one that's not too far away from that star?"  
  
I looked at the speck she pointed out and nodded. "I see it. Why? What is it?"  
  
"I'm not sure if you've heard of it, but there are records of it in Montressor. It's a tiny little planet that the discoverer named Wendholme. My father used to point it out to me whenever we passed it. Of all the stars and planets we'd pass, that one seemed to be his favorite..."  
  
I watched the blue dot disappear as we sailed past. She turned around and leaned backward on the railing, so she could see it fade. I turned to her and asked, "Why was that?"  
  
"Hmm? Why was what?"  
  
"Why was Wendholme his favorite?"  
  
Wendholme was lost now; it was soon swallowed up in blackness. We actually travelled more quickly at night - that's why it went by so fast. She smiled sadly. "Because... My mother came from that planet..."  
  
We stood there quietly for a while; only Sylik was up on deck, and even he was leaving soon. I felt uncomfortable near Felix, but of course, she hadn't dismissed me yet. So, I stood there and waited for her to say something, praying that she would say it soon and let me go. I needed to get out of there.  
  
"Jim," she said, a little too suddenly. Her voice had pierced the silence, no matter how gentle her tone was now. I looked at her and waited for her to speak. Then I looked out again, into space and at nothing in particular. It was strange, how vulnerable the night made her look.  
  
"What's it like at the Academy?" she asked, her voice soft.  
  
That question surprised me. "What?" I answered. She frowned, and I quickly gathered whatever thoughts I had at the moment and put them into words. "It's okay." I wasn't sure if she wanted to hear more about it; she didn't even look like she was listening. But I went on. "The lessons are interesting most of the time, and the professors are really strict. The food's good only on some days. It's funny, but I'm looking forward to getting back... I'm glad, though," I ventured, "to be on the Interloper..."  
  
She didn't reply, and I looked at her again. She looked away. "Dismissed," she whispered. Though I wasn't sure, I thought I heard her voice quiver just a bit. But I knew better than to stay, so I went back down the stairs. "Good night, Jim," said Felix. I looked back up one last time. But I found myself alone in the quiet. 


	6. The Captain

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 6: The Captain  
  
The next day, at breakfast, Captain Peter interrupted my conversation with Sylik and some of the other crewmen and asked to have a word with me after the meal. Some of my companions gave an "Ooh... What did you do, Hawkins?", and I tried not to be nervous.  
  
"Maybe he did something good, and the Captain wants to promote him," one of the men said. The green creature next to him answered in a thick accent, "Nah, 'e's plannin' ta trounce 'im good." And a thick-skinned beast across him added, "Yeah, prob'ly for stayink up too long, havink a chat with First Mate, eh, Hawkins?"  
  
I nearly choked. "Who told you that?" The thick-skinned one, Luygef, reached his arm over past two other people on the bench and slapped me on the back (his arm was that long). Because of his strength, I found my nose inches away from the stew in front of me as the other men laughed.  
  
"Ha ha, you're funny, Hawkins!" Luygef said, "It was little Sylik here who told us, eh, Sylik?"  
  
Sylik sat across me, and he tried vainly to shrink from my although blank stare. "I - I didn't tell n - no - nobody."  
  
The men laughed, and the green creature, Baewong, cried, "Yes, nobody but us!" People around me turned hysterical. I glanced at the Captain's spot at the other table, but it looked like he didn't hear me. Felix was quietly speaking with him.  
  
Luygef slapped me again. "Oh, yes," he said, mimicking Sylik's voice with great accuracy, "they was still up when I went below, sir. I don't know what they was talkin' 'bout, sir, I couldn't hear their voices, they was talkin' real soft, sir." I didn't think that such a fair-skinned boy could become any paler, but Sylik did, and he tried to get off the bench. Baewong clapped him back down on his shoulder.  
  
I blinked. "Wait a minute. 'Sir'? You were talking to a 'sir'? Which 'sir'?"  
  
The men around me laughed harder, and Luygef banged on the table, causing the plates and bowls to jump every time his fist came down. "Why, the only sir I call 'sir' here, Hawkins - Captain Peter Helikos!"  
  
As they laughed, Baewong gasped for breath and said, "Oh, ho, ho... Big brother's after ya now..."  
  
I glanced up at the Captain. He was watching me, and he nodded. I felt doomed.  
  
=*=  
  
Breakfast ended, and slowly everyone, crewman or passenger, left the room. Felix didn't go up the stairs and on deck as usual but went through a different door instead, the alternate route to the helm. Luygef tapped me on the shoulder before he left and said in his low voice, "Somethink tells me she doesn't want to see you, eh, Hawkins?" And, laughing, he and his friends left.  
  
I looked back at the Captain's table where I last saw Captain Peter, but he'd disappeared. A bit relieved but still nervous, I turned to go, too. I abruptly found myself looking up at the tall Captain, who was grinning.  
  
"Oh, no, Hawkins, you're not going anywhere yet..."  
  
I gulped. "Sir, uh, Captain - I can explain. I was only talking to the First Mate, sir, and I wasn't - "  
  
"Really?" he said, interrupting. His eyes sparkled. "So, what did the two of you talk about?" I was surprised. His tone wasn't sarcastic; it was sincerely curious. In fact, it actually sounded a bit mischievous. I had no idea what was going on.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
He jabbed me on the shoulder playfully. "Oh, come on, Hawkins, you can tell me. I'm the Captain! I'm your friend!" Seeing the look on my face, he laughed and said, "You can't fool me, Hawkins. I know something went on between you and my sister last night. I mean, I was shocked when Sylik told me, but when I thought about it - better you than some guys I know. Plus she was really weird this morning. Hey, how long has this been going on?" As he spoke, he smiled, and he talked as if he was indeed my best friend. When I realized what he was saying, my eyes widened.  
  
I said quietly, "Sir, the First Mate and I were having a simple conversation that didn't last very long. We were talking about the Academy. Nothing happened between us." A voice in my head said in its singsong voice, 'But SOMEbody wishes it did...' I internally shook it off. There I was, thinking strange thoughts again.  
  
I looked at Captain Peter and was surprised. His expression had changed entirely from one of a joker into one of sadness. He bit his lip, not unlike how Felix did, and his brow furrowed. Then he said to me in an even but serious tone. "I'm sorry, Hawkins, for surprising you this way. I should have left it alone... You're dismissed. This never happened."  
  
"Aye, sir," I answered softly. I turned to go. I was more confused than ever. Perhaps Felix, or Ranga would tell me, though I doubted that either one would have much to say about this mystery...  
  
The truth was, it bothered me every time I saw her alone on deck. I wondered what was causing her and her brother this strange sadness. I hated it when fate caused such pain in the lives of good people. It happened to my mother, a beautiful woman. And it happened to Felix, the Captain's beautiful sister. Perhaps I did have some feelings for her. But I would deal with them when I understood what was happening...  
  
"Hawkins - Jim, wait," the Captain said. I turned to face him.  
  
"Sir?"  
  
He sighed. "I know you plan on asking someone about this regardless of what I say. But Ranga won't tell you anything, and I don't think Felix wants to see you after you... saw her cry." He smiled wryly. "Very few people aboard this ship have seen that, you know. She doesn't like being vulnerable." I gave a similar smile in return as I remembered Captain Amelia again. He looked out the porthole at the skies and shook his head.  
  
"You won't get answers out there... I guess I'll have to tell you myself. Pull up a chair." 


	7. The Captain Tells a Tale

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 7: The Captain Tells a Tale  
  
I slowly sat down at the table, watching Captain Peter. He had his back to me; he was taking a bottle and two glasses out of a cabinet. After setting them on the table, he went around and locked the doors leading in and out of the mess. Finally, he sat down across me, picked up the bottle, and poured Purp juice into the glasses. He slid one to me and gulped down the other.  
  
I was staring at him, and when he met my eyes, he laughed. "Usually, in a situation like this, I'd bring out some Montressor rum. But I don't allow people under eighteen to drink, not even Felix. Purp juice tastes just as good anyway, sometimes better."  
  
I raised an eyebrow. "What about before you were Captain?"  
  
He laughed again. "My father never let us touch the stuff, no matter how the crew teased us. Said it would turn us mad. But you can't say that we never snuck a drink or two. One day, I learned what my father had been telling me all along."  
  
I smiled, remembering my own antics in and outside the Benbow, not all of them with my mother's knowledge or consent. As the Captain and I sat in silence, I swirled the Purp juice around in my glass till he tapped the table twice with his fingers. I looked at him then.  
  
"Two years ago, when my father was still alive, I did something he'd been dreaming of since I was born." When he said that, I realized that he was starting, and I listened more closely. "I applied to Interstellar. I knew that getting in and making good would do him proud."  
  
A shadow passed over his eyes, and he stared at the rim of his empty glass. "I desperately wanted to get in. I was rejected the first time, but I appealed. Still a negative." I was confused. How could the Academy reject someone as promising and intelligent as Captain Peter? Not only was he a good spacer, he was a great leader - something they wanted all their students to be. Before I could ask about it, he went on.  
  
"I got over the rejection, especially when my father died. I couldn't go to the Academy then, not with the Interloper to run."  
  
"What does this have to do with Felix?" I asked. He poured some more juice into his glass and offered to fill mine also. I accepted it politely and sipped as I listened.  
  
He sighed. "Felix was Father's little girl. He was so fond of her, especially after Mother died. From him, I learned to be protective of my little sister. When I was older, my father and I would stay up late, talking about the future we wanted for her. While I was his son, he was already beginning to treat me like a man."  
  
"We raised her together, and every time I look at her, I look for something that shows where we went wrong. But every time I begin to doubt our 'work', she does something unexpected and wonderful, and I feel relieved."  
  
I began to understand the Captain now. He wasn't forced into his life - somehow, because of his love for his family, he had chosen to grow up a little more quickly than others had. To me, this further explained the crew's respect for its Captain.  
  
"Anyhow, Father and I were heroes to Felix. She loved us better than any living soul we knew. Sometimes, I would be surprised to find that it was she pulling me out of trouble. She was beginning to grow up, too. My father felt happy to know that we looked out for each other." He swallowed and set the glass down.  
  
"Like I said, we were her heroes, and when Father died, I was left. She wanted to be just like me. So, she took her turn and applied to the Academy. Just this year."  
  
I knew where this was going. Before the year had ended, I'd seen the ISA cargo vehicles move back and forth between the Postal Service Center. Some of the messages were green lights; others were red. The moment the Captain finished his sentence, I knew what had happened.  
  
I asked, "Is that why she was sad, when I talked about the Academy?" He looked at me and nodded. Suddenly, he looked much older than eighteen.  
  
"I don't understand," I continued. "How - how could the Academy reject two spacers as fine as you? I know guys who are in there and are only half as great as you can be. I don't understand..."  
  
Captain Peter sighed and pushed his glass away. We sat in a long, awful silence before he spoke again.  
  
"We lacked money, but we were qualified applicants for the scholarship. We are intelligent, have excellent coordination, and have just-as-excellent social skills. We weren't rejected for lack of those things." I watched his eyes in puzzlement.  
  
"You don't know how discriminating the ISA Admissions Board can be. You don't know how lucky you are. At least they interviewed you, and admitted you. They didn't even give us a chance. One look at our papers was all it took to get the red stamp."  
  
I couldn't believe it. Was it true? My mother said that the Academy was turning me into a fine young man and not just a fine young spacer. Could the same Academy be so cruel to spacers who could be finer than I was?  
  
"Why?" I asked at last.  
  
Captain Peter looked at me fiercely. I had seen him angry a few times, but not from this close. He was fearsome, and I worried that he was angry at me. Only later, I realized that he was angry at the ISA. "Felix applied this year, hoping that they'd give her a chance now that some time had passed since Father died. But they were still harsh on us. They wouldn't let her in... because of who our father was."  
  
I blinked. This was unbelievable. It had to be a mistake. "What? But - who was your father? I don't understand."  
  
Before the Captain could speak, there was a series of thuds above and around us. We were jerked this way and that because of the vibrations. "What the - !" An alarm sounded, and we both heard Felix's voice calling.  
  
"Peter! Peter, where are you? We need you up here! We're under attack!" 


	8. Putting Up Defenses

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 8: Putting up Defenses  
  
A longboat had pulled up beside us, and what it carried, though small in number, was dangerous. "Pirates!" Luygef cried.  
  
Ranga tossed guns to the Captain and me, and we jumped into the fray. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Felix fighting, exchanging blows with a Strimbila by the helm. She was furiously defending both herself and the controls of the ship. But I had no time to watch and marvel at her skill; I had to join Ranga and defend the passengers.  
  
The fighting was terrible. I could hear shouts of pain and struggle from all around. Ranga and I herded the passengers into a secret room when he had to turn back for Sylik and Henry, one of the child passengers. "Get them inside," he croaked. I watched his silver back disappear into the mess on deck.  
  
As I leaned against the wall and watched cautiously, I felt a tug at my coat and looked down at Melissa, one of the children. Her big, red-and-orange eyes teared. "Will Mister Rang-ga be all right?" she whimpered.  
  
"Let's hope so," I answered. I looked out into the smoke, but I couldn't find him. Melissa asked if she could look out, too, but I told her to stay back so that the pirates wouldn't find and get her. Just as I pushed her away from the doorway, a few bullets whizzed past the both of us. Melissa cowered and buried her face in my leg, and she began to sob hysterically.  
  
I didn't want to panic. But I couldn't bend down to shush her, and I searched frantically for her mother among the passengers. Outside, one of the pirates had tumbled out of the battle. Getting up, he'd heard Melissa's cries. He began to walk toward us, and I tightened my grip on the gun.  
  
Two figures suddenly knocked him out of the way, and they tumbled into the secret room. One of them pushed the other toward the passengers, and they tripped in a scramble. I found myself looking down at Sylik, and he was clutching the shirt of the missing boy, Henry. Gasping for breath, the cabin boy got up and pulled Henry to his feet.  
  
"Where's Ranga?" I asked. "He was looking for the two of you!"  
  
Sylik looked up at me, and then he exchanged glances with Henry. "He's down," he said quietly. It was amazing that I still heard him with all the noise outside. My eyes widened.  
  
I noticed a particularly large man climb out of the longboat and onto the deck. It wasn't so much his size as it was his presence that made him stand out. I could tell that he was the pirate captain. He looked around, fired here and there, and grinned menacingly.  
  
Then, as if he'd seen a ghost, he paled. He stared quietly at Captain Peter, and I took aim. Ranga did, too, but the pirates noticed that their captain had stopped. One by one, everyone on deck became silent. We watched as the pirate captain slowly walked toward Captain Peter.  
  
He looked at him strangely, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, as if to check and double-check. He squinted, trying to be sure if he was looking at who he thought he was looking at. "It can't be," he muttered. I didn't hear him, but I could read his lips as the words came out of his great mouth. Then, he asked uncertainly, "Alvés? ...Alvés, is that you?"  
  
Captain Peter froze and pointed his guns at the pirate. "What do you want?"  
  
The pirate captain stopped, but he continued, ignoring the Captain's question. Hearing the Captain's voice seemed to make him more sure than ever. "Stefan! Stefan, it's me, Drom! Drom Hicxon!"  
  
We, the crew, watched our Captain blanch. Then, his gaze turned to steel. "Stefan Alvés died eighteen years ago. I am Captain Peter Helikos, and I demand that you leave my ship immediately," he said sternly. Once more, I was afraid of the Captain. He seemed to seethe with a strange, pulsating energy, and one of the passengers behind me began to whimper in fright.  
  
Meanwhile, Drom Hicxon's eyes widened, and he recognized Captain Peter at last - "Why, it's little Peter Alvés! I hadn't seen you since you were a kid! But your daddy was alive then, weren't he? Jumping jarungas, you look just like him."  
  
The Captain stepped forward and said more firmly, "Alvés died eighteen years ago. Leave my ship. Now."  
  
Hicxon backed away, and stumbled. Regaining his balance, he looked up at his man by the helm of the Interloper. Then his eyes moved to Felix. "And that's Felixa! She was only a baby when I last seen her! You wailed like an etherium banshee whenever I came near you."  
  
Felix stared in horror and surprise. She backed away from the helm, ready to run.  
  
Our Captain fired, narrowly missing Hicxon's ear and making us all jump. Drom raised his hands in the air. "All right," he said quietly, still stunned at seeing Captain Peter and Felix. "I'll go." He nodded at his men, and they swiftly moved back into the longboat. Some of them grabbed jewelry and other odds and ends, glancing furtively at Captain Peter and the other crewmen to see how we would react. But in the end, they pulled away.  
  
When they were all gone, Captain Peter put his guns away and checked if everyone was around. "Everyone all right?"  
  
One by one, those of us in the secret room came out and into the light, with me at the lead. I spotted Ranga on his back and immediately ran to his side. I called, "Ranga's down, Captain!" Soon, there were similar yells around the ship as I propped the old Grahonian up. He grinned, though he was obviously in pain.  
  
The Captain took note of the injured - thankfully, no one was lost. Though some of them were old, the crew of the Interloper was in great shape. Captain Peter said that he was glad everyone was all right. Then he looked around.  
  
"Felix?" he called. I looked up to where the First Mate stood by the helm, still catching her breath. Captain Peter moved to the stairs. "You all right, Felix?"  
  
Not answering, she turned around and ran out of sight, her hand over her mouth. We heard a door slam, and it made us jump the way the gunshots did.  
  
Ranga, still propped up against me, said, "That one's still got her defenses up." 


	9. The Past Catches Up

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 9: The Past Catches Up  
  
That night, I couldn't sleep. After she had disappeared, we never saw Felix again. Captain Peter said that we'd better tend to the injured first and survey the damage; she'd be out again. But I remembered seeing someone off in a longboat bay not too long ago, and I was worried that the Captain would be wrong.  
  
I wondered how anyone could sleep with Felix gone. But sure enough, there were snores around me. They did anything but put me to sleep, so I got up and decided to wander around on deck. I wished that the night breeze would bring me some answers. As I emerged to the outside, I noticed that Captain Peter was at the helm. I wasn't the only one who couldn't sleep.  
  
The Captain was right. Stefan Alvés died eighteen years ago. Drom Hicxon had to be wrong if he thought that Alvés was Peter Helikos's father. Everyone on the crew, except for myself and Sylik, had seen him die two years ago. But how did Hicxon know "little Peter" and "baby Felixa"?  
  
I sighed. Things just got more twisted in my mind every day... Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone moving and turned. It was Baewong, the green-skinned man of the crow's nest. Before I could call out to him, he disappeared below to his berth.  
  
I shrugged. I couldn't leave the crow's nest empty, not with the Interloper soon to approach its first stop sometime the next day. I couldn't sleep, anyway, so I climbed up the rigging to the little round "tub". Before getting in, I held onto the rim and leaned out, letting the wind whip my hair back. I vaguely thought that it was getting long again, and then I closed my eyes and tried to relax.  
  
"I bet you're wondering about what that Drom Hicxon said."  
  
Taken completely by surprise, I let go of the edge of the crow's nest and began to fall. But just before I was out of reach, I felt myself stop. Someone was trying to hold me up by the back of my coat. But it seemed that this person wasn't strong enough to pull me up all the way, so I slowly swung back toward the rigging. When I could feel the rope in my hands, I looked up to see whose hand was clutching my collar.  
  
"Felix!"  
  
She scowled and let go, but not without making sure I'd had my footing first. I stood there on the rigging for a long time, wondering what to say. Did she want me to stay? Or should I have gone down much, much earlier? She had disappeared inside again; she was probably sitting on the floor - I could only see the top of her head peeking out of the crow's nest.  
  
"I - I thought the nest was empty," I began, "so I came up to take over."  
  
There was more silence, and then Felix said, "The post has been filled. You can go down... if you want to."  
  
What was that supposed to mean? I was puzzled. More than anything, what I wanted at that moment was to climb into the crow's nest and pull her into my arms. But I wasn't sure if she was going to let me get past the top of the rigging... Was what she said an invitation or a dismissal?  
  
She sighed. "Well, don't just hang there. Are you coming in, or not?"  
  
So, slowly, I climbed into the crow's nest. Sure enough, there she was, sitting on the floor and leaning back, her hand over her eyes. I sat across her, not sure what to do. Just before I opened my mouth to ask her, 'Um, is there - anything you want, like a drink or food or - ' (in other words, before I could make an idiot of myself again), she spoke.  
  
"You know who Stefan Alvés is?" she asked.  
  
I nodded, and my eyebrows came together. I wasn't sure if I wanted to answer. Just thinking about it made me even more confused and perhaps incredulous... "He was - he was a pirate."  
  
"That's right," she said, nodding. She put her hand down, and I saw that her eyes shone. She looked away, into space, but I could still see the tears at the corners of her eyes from the starlight. "Not as famous as Nathaniel Flint, maybe," she said, giving a wry smile. "But he was a pirate... what else do you know about him?"  
  
To be honest, I didn't know much about him. As Felix had said, he wasn't exactly as famous as Captain Flint. "Well," I began, "I do know that he was a pretty rough guy. Like a lot of pirate captains, he was pretty phenomenal. Excellent fighter, excellent strategies. He raided a lot of ships. They called him 'Stefan the Scourge'." Felix nodded, and she put her hand up on her forehead in thought. I added, "But like the Captain said, he died eighteen years ago. No one knows exactly how, but he just disappeared, together with his crew and his ship..."  
  
She was silent again. I sat there, watching her, and waiting. Once there, I couldn't take my eyes off hers. They were so filled with pain and sadness, and I only wanted to know the reason.  
  
"I'll tell you something you don't know about Stefan Alvés, something very few people know. Rumors about it surround the Interloper - I'm surprised you haven't heard any. That's why we don't carry very many passengers. They're all skeptical of Peter's skill... and of his honor. Of mine, too..." Her voice began to tremble, and the tears began to flow, one by one...  
  
"Stefan the Scourge," she said with a sigh. "Oh, yeah, he was a great raider, all right. One of the best. And then he discovered a tiny little planet tucked away into a corner of the etherium, just eighteen years ago. Because of what he found on it, he called it Wendholme. I think it means 'wanderer's home' or something..."  
  
I leaned forward, intrigued. "What did he find on Wendholme? Why'd he name it that?"  
  
She looked at me, and I almost gasped out loud. She was letting me see her hurting; even her brother knew this was rare. "What could Stefan the Scourge have found on Wendholme that caused his death? What could it be..." she said softly, leading me on. "I'll tell you what he found. He found a green-eyed woman named Dafne, the daughter of the king of a forgotten people. She was my mother."  
  
I knitted my brows. "What do you mean?"  
  
She ignored my question and continued. "Stefan and Dafne fell in love, and they were married by her father on Wendholme. They sailed away on Stefan's ship, the Impact..." She sniffed. "When Dafne became pregnant with his son, that was when Stefan Alvés died."  
  
"I don't understand," I said.  
  
She smiled wryly. "Stefan Alvés decided that his pirate-captain days were over. He had a son, and he didn't want his child to grow up feared and hated the way he was. So they journeyed to Takara, the planet he had first... touched. He went to the Takara High Council and asked for forgiveness and a new identity. In exchange, he would serve the planet with his resources."  
  
What Felix said next answered all my questions. "All traces of his old life were erased; the Impact was sold, and the Council gave him a new ship and a new name. The ship was the Interloper. The name was Helikos." 


	10. Dawn

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 10: Dawn  
  
Now I understood everything. The secrets, the pain - now I knew why Peter and Felixa Helikos were barred from the Academy. Now I knew why there were so few passengers and so few merchants willing to send their goods aboard the Interloper. Now I knew why shadows dimmed Felix's bright eyes every now and then.  
  
She continued with her story. "The Council named the ship the Interloper because that was how they saw my father: uninvited - a gatecrasher. As for Helikos, the last of that Takaran family had died out long before my father had sailed into their harbor."  
  
"Ever since then, our family has been shuttling people and goods to and from Takara and other destinations. My father believed that he had to pay for his crimes somehow, and he chose to do it with service. That is why we continue on this route, even if there are better, richer ones in the etherium. We do it for my father."  
  
She bit her lip, and then she surprised me and burst out crying. "I hate this! I hate it when people look at me and Peter they way they do - I know what they're thinking: The brubloo doesn't fall far from the tree. I hate being treated like I was the criminal, like I'm good for nothing!"  
  
Instinctively, I reached out a hand to touch her shoulder, and she was racked with sobs. Soon I was cradling her, with her head by my collar. "My father may have been a criminal, but he was more honorable than most spacers I know! And I'M honorable! But no one sees it. No one sees me. All they see is an old pirate's blood running through my veins..."  
  
I bit my lip to keep from crying, too. I knew what it was like to be judged discriminately. I knew what it was like to be called good for nothing, to be called a delinquent. It hurt to see Felix and her brother suffering from the same thing, multiplied threefold.  
  
"Are you mad at your father?" I asked. She shook her head, but I knew she would. Captain Peter had told me that she loved their father fiercely; he was her hero. She burrowed her head deeper into my chest, and I wanted to say something to comfort her. I wanted to change everything, to wipe the hurtful past away. I couldn't stand to see anyone like my mother or like Felix and her brother in pain.  
  
She became silent, and I took it as my cue. "I think you're honorable," I began, whispering. "When I came onboard the Interloper, I thought you and your brother had to be two of the finest spacers I had ever seen. Your men respect you, even if others don't. You have a family here that cares for you. I - I care for you..."  
  
My voice trailed off as I looked down at her dark-brown hair. She sniffed, her eyes closed, asleep. She was tired of fighting and tired of running. Now she rested, her brow relaxed, her breathing even.  
  
After watching her for a while, I felt my eyelids begin to droop, and I yawned. When I awoke, the sky was beginning to change color. I was alone in the crow's nest.  
  
=*=  
  
When I think back to that moment in the crow's nest, I try to imagine what else I could have done for her. I always remember what Ranga told me afterward.  
  
When I came down, Baewong was waiting at the bottom. He didn't tease me about being with Felix the previous night; he didn't know. He probably guessed that after Felix took over his shift, I took over hers. Besides, everyone was still shaken by the visit of Drom Hicxon and his band. Baewong simply nodded his good morning to me and swiftly scuttled up the ladder.  
  
I looked around. Captain Peter was still at the helm. Felix was sitting on the railing in front of him, in the same spot where we first talked. She and her brother weren't talking now, but there's communication that happens in silence. Her dark hair flowed out behind her, the bandanna lost in the fight.  
  
As I looked up at her, I tried to will her to look at me. She did; she even gave a small, sad smile. I was about to give her a sign of acknowledgment when something banged into the backs of my legs, making me fall. I was flat on my back, the wind knocked out of me, when I saw Melissa standing over me, her pudgy face stretched into a smile and her red-and-orange eyes twinkling. "I was looking for you," she said in a singsong voice. "Mister Rang-ga's looking for you, too!"  
  
I scrambled to my feet and turned around to see Ranga with his arms crossed, shaking his head with a smirk on his face. "I wake up to find my assistant already out of bed, and I find he's in the crow's nest," the Grahonian began. He put a silver hand to his chin. "Now, what could Hawkins be doing in the crow's nest...?"  
  
I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck and tried to explain, but Melissa pushed me toward him. "Go, work! Now!" she squealed. Ranga laughed.  
  
"I couldn't have said it better myself," he said. I walked with him, stretching my arms. Then Ranga said in a low voice, "Whatever it was, I don't think you could have said it better either..." I yawned as Melissa skipped behind us, singing a song. "I trust that you heard the stories I wouldn't tell?" I blinked and looked at Ranga in surprise. But I nodded. He smiled and faced the source of the spreading light.  
  
After a while, he looked at me with a stoic gaze, and then he looked down at Melissa. Smiling, he took her hand and walked with her. "You know, Melissa, the dawn is only the beginning of the warmth a new day can bring."  
  
I looked over my shoulder to catch a last glimpse of Felix. She was still there, and from the look on her face, I could tell that she felt much better. 


	11. Takara

Author's Note: I'll soon be back in school, so I might not be able to upload chapters as often as I was able to (wow, the first ten chapters in only four days!). But I hope you're enjoying the story.  
  
No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 11: Takara  
  
"Planet ho!"  
  
I thrust the door open, surprising Mrs. Arnold. I'd been in her cabin, returning the laundry, but I forgot all about the basket in my hands as soon as I'd heard Baewong's cry resound throughout the ship. Leaving her spluttering as she scrambled for her wig, which had slipped off, I bounded out and up the stairs to be on deck.  
  
Ranga had told me that of all the planets he'd seen in this part of the galaxy, Takara was a jewel. And there it was, a beautiful planet of blue and green that seemed to grow as we approached. It was tiny, to be sure, but it was a sight to behold. My mouth dropped open, and then I heard Captain Peter give a whoop of joy. I turned around to see him cartwheeling on deck. Then he somersaulted and jumped up into the rigging and gave another crow.  
  
Felix laughed, and I realized that she was not too far off. "He missed Dalaga, that's for sure," she said.  
  
"What?" I asked. "I thought this was Takara."  
  
She laughed again and gazed fondly at the planet. "This is Takara all right. But Dalaga's his wife. I think Ranga told you that she gave birth while we were on Montressor. This'll be the first time Peter'll see his son."  
  
I raised my eyebrows and looked at the Captain again. He was leaning out from the rigging, breathing in the first layer of the Takaran atmosphere. He closed his eyes in ecstasy and sighed. "Prepare to dock!" he called out. "All hands on deck!"  
  
In a flash, the deck was bustling with both crewmen and passengers getting ready to dock and eventually disembark. Apparently, Captain Peter wasn't the only one who couldn't wait to be on Takara. I soon had my hands full, bringing luggage up from below, securing this and repacking that. Somewhere in between, Ranga remarked that he couldn't wait to be in a Takaran cafe, drinking freshly squeezed, iced Purp juice. I couldn't agree more.  
  
Then, all were silent. I paused at the edge of the deck and looked down upon the faces of the planet's denizens. When we had approached, the port was roaring with activity as all kinds of people moved here and there. But the last dock, reserved for the Interloper, was almost silent. There were only a few people there, and they were staring coldly up the sides of the ship as we docked.  
  
One old hag spat on the hull, and I glared at her. So, this was how the Interloper and her crew were greeted at the end of a voyage. I glanced at Felix. For the first time in public, I saw her with her head down. I caught a glimpse of the Captain with the same blank expression on his face. We had reached Atik, the planet's spaceport town.  
  
Silently, the passengers to Takara disembarked, one by one. Melissa was among them, and a female of her kind knelt and took her into her arms. She stood up, held her close, and kissed her cheek the way my own mother did when I returned from Treasure Planet. Then I heard her say, "Oh, I missed you so much, Lissie! ...Were you safe? The Captain didn't do anything to hurt you?"  
  
I scowled, but I felt someone grab my arm before I could jump down and give the lady a piece of my mind. I turned to see Ranga and hissed, "She has no right to rag on the Captain like that!" But Ranga simply raised an eyebrow, as if to ask me if I really wanted to cause a scene. I glanced back at the Captain and the First Mate and noticed how tired they both looked.  
  
"Oh, no, Mommy, the Captain was a really nice man! Why is everyone afraid of him?" Melissa asked innocently.  
  
Her mother glanced up at me and Ranga and said to Melissa, "It's not that we're afraid of him, Lissie, or of his sister. But you can't really trust pirates now, can you? They and their families are a dirty kind."  
  
"That's it," I muttered, but before I could set my foot on the railing, Ranga pulled me back again. I gave him a dirty look, but I felt my expression soften when I saw the Captain within earshot of Melissa's mother. He was talking to the merchant picking up his goods, and I could tell that he'd heard the lady's remark as well. "Why doesn't he do anything about her?" I asked under my breath. "If he doesn't, I will."  
  
Ranga whispered quickly, "If he doesn't move, you musn't move, either. We love our Captain, but not everyone else does. He and his sister know that and have learned to live with it. I saw those kids grow up with this burden, Hawkins. Don't take it upon yourself."  
  
I watched as Melissa and her mother walked away from the dock. The kid waved at Captain Peter with a sad smile over her mother's shoulder. Then, she also looked away. It wasn't fair, and I clenched my fists. I turned to argue again with Ranga - I just had to fight someone, but he was gone. Instead, Felix was standing there, watching Melissa go.  
  
"They never thank us. Never. Not for bringing their fathers, brothers, or children home. Not for bringing back their important documents, or their long-awaited packages. Not for anything. They thank the crew. Sometimes. But never us," she said softly. I watched her eyes, wondering if she'd cry again. But there was only an angry expression on her face.  
  
Just then, Captain Peter appeared between us. "We're done for today. We'll wait a day, maybe two, for passengers or cargo to Plagiare. If nothing turns up, we go..." I was staring down the streets of Atik. It was a small, sleepy town that wasn't as advanced as the spaceport of Montressor; I could see why Stefan the Scourge would have selected this planet to pillage. I was wondering how many more people like Melissa's mother we'd meet when the Captain tapped me on the shoulder.  
  
"Ranga has left without you," he said. I blinked and looked around. We were among the few crewmen left on the ship. "Some of the men have business of their own here in Atik or in other towns. Did you make plans with Ranga or with anyone else?"  
  
I shook my head. "I can stay on the ship." The truth was, I was too busy working with the passengers, helping Sylik, and thinking about the Helikos siblings to make plans, not even with Ranga. I didn't even know much about the planet aside from what I'd learned about Felix's father. I wanted to explore, though.  
  
The Captain gave me a strange look. "Actually, nobody's staying on the ship. The crew stays in the inn, or in their own homes - some of them have families here, or friends."  
  
"Lucky them," Felix muttered.  
  
Ignoring his sister, Captain Peter continued. "You'll be alone here, Hawkins... Why don't you stay with us?" 


	12. The Other Side

Author's Note: I'm using the Windows program, Notepad, if anyone's curious why I don't italize, boldface, or underline anything. I began with Notepad because the computer I started the story on didn't have any other wordprocessing program on it (I'm not kidding). I figured I might as well do the whole thing on Notepad.  
  
No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 12: The Other Side  
  
I blinked. Before, I would have mumbled a simple, careless, "Whatever." But after being in the Academy, I was surprised. In no way was I supposed to impose on any member of the crew, whether I outranked them or not. And in this case, I was the one outranked, by two officers no less. "I couldn't, sir," I said. "I'll be fine by myself. I plan to do some exploring, anyhow." To begin, I said, "Um, what kind of things can I expect to see in this town?"  
  
Felix raised her eyebrows and smirked. "Here, in Atik? Hawkins, there's nothing to see in Atik."  
  
I looked at the Captain, and he nodded. "I'm afraid she's right, Hawkins. Atik is boring. It's an old planet with a lot of old-fashioned folk. The history's boring, except for a few rumpled pages caused by - ahem - pirates." Felix stepped on his foot. "Like I said, there's nothing to see."  
  
Felix's eyes began to sparkle, and she smiled at me. "If you want to do some real exploring, Hawkins, you'll come home with us."  
  
I was confused. "Why? What interesting place is there if this place is just a sleepy little planet?"  
  
Brother and sister exchanged looks, and the Captain said, "Hawkins, what was the strange thing you noticed about this planet when you first saw it?"  
  
I shrugged. It sounded stupid, really; maybe it was just my eyes. "I - I thought the planet was cut in half. All the towns seemed to be on just one side of it."  
  
=*=  
  
An hour later, we were in a longboat cutting through some kind of jungle, which was not unlike the jungle I'd met B.E.N. in on Treasure Planet. As we went, Peter (he got tired of hearing Captain from me and ordered me to call him by his first name) explained why Takara seemed to be cut in half.  
  
Like he said, Takara was an old planet with a lot of old-fashioned folk. There was some strange superstition about the other side of Takara, so in the early days, a law was made that no living being could journey there to prevent any loss. As time passed, the influence of the superstition wore out, but by then the planet's inhabitants were contented with living in the same old towns. To them, it was too much effort to cut through the forest and make new settlements. Anyone who didn't like life on Takara simply got on a ship and left.  
  
"Anyway," he was saying now, "this makes for half of a planet untouched for centuries... Or at least that's what they think." As he finished his statement, Felix parted the leaves of a particularly large jarunga bean bush, and I saw a building the size of the Benbow Inn standing in the middle of a clearing.  
  
"Welcome," Felix said, "to our humble home."  
  
We jumped out of the longboat, and Peter anchored it to a tree. My mouth dropped open for the umpteenth time, and she laughed. Meanwhile, Peter gave a shout and ran through the opening in the leaves. It was then that I noticed a blonde young woman waving at us from the porch steps. She had a baby in her arms, and she kissed Peter when he stepped up to her.  
  
"They look like a happy little family," I said. Felix gave a sound of acknowledgment.  
  
"That's the way it should be," she said. "In a way, people are like the sides of Takara. On one side, there are people who hate and fear you. On the other side, there are people waiting for you to come home. They're the people that matter." When I heard her speak, something in her voice told me that those words meant a lot to her. Sure enough, she added, "My father told me that. He built this house using the last of his pirate stash."  
  
I looked at her curiously. "I thought he gave all his resources to the Takaran High Council?"  
  
She shrugged and grinned mischievously. "All the resources he had on hand." Changing the subject, she said, "Come on, Peter'll introduce you. After that, we can change out of these clothes, and I'll take you exploring."  
  
=*=  
  
We talked as we climbed up the side of a cliff later that day. She climbed ahead of me, surprising me at every turn with how nimble she was. Peter had stayed with Dalaga and his son, Lakan. "So," I was asking, "all this time, you and your family have been anchoring in Atik and then taking a longboat to your real home?"  
  
She nodded. "We have packages and letters delivered to a box in the capital or at Montressor Spaceport. No one on Takara but Ranga and some of the other crewmen know where we actually live. My father liked it that way. He was able to raise us away from all the people who hated us... I like it here," she said, scrambling onto the top of the cliff. She stood there for a moment, smiling at the panoramic view. I tried not to look down at the deep pool below us.  
  
When I had climbed up on top, Felix was sitting on the trunk of a tree that was growing out of the side of the cliff, beside the huge waterfall. She watched the water with a wistful look on her face and smiled. "I like it here," she repeated. "My father took me here once. Not even Peter knows about it. Now it's just my secret spot..."  
  
I nodded, but I was watching her. She was perched a little too precariously for my taste on that tree, and I voiced my thoughts. She laughed and leaped to her feet, balancing on her toes. I moved forward instinctively to grab her, only making her laugh again when I stepped back from the edge of the cliff, just in time.  
  
"Am I scaring you, Hawkins?" she teased. I was very serious, though, when I nodded. If she wasn't careful, she was going to fall. And there she was, moving into a handstand.  
  
"Felix, please. Get off the tree." I must have said the wrong thing, because she only stood on her feet again and shook the tree with a bounce. She giggled when I moved toward her again. I already had a foot on a branch above her and a hand grasping for a hold on the trunk.  
  
She said, "Come on, Hawkins! It's fun!" I only gulped as I looked down. Strangely, a fall into the etherium didn't scare me as much as a fall on something solid - or liquid. The water beneath us churned violently as the falls hammered down. I looked at Felix. Though it might be surprising, there are a lot of spacers who don't know how to swim, so I wasn't sure if Felix could continue with her gymnastics there without fear.  
  
"Come on, Felix, let's go!" I said, worry creeping into my voice. I reached out a hand. She laughed and swerved to avoid me getting to her. But in doing so, she slipped and tumbled backward. "Felix!"  
  
"Jim!"  
  
I don't know who screamed louder, but our voices broke the tranquility of the hidden jungle corner as Felix plunged headfirst toward the water. 


	13. How Deep?

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 13: How Deep?  
  
"Jim!" She cried again, her hands reaching up at me. Then, there was a splash.  
  
I looked down at the water, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and - before I could change my mind - dove.  
  
Within seconds, my eyes were burning as I opened them wide to search for Felix. The water was clear, but there was a lot of underwater life: freshwater fish and plants that I couldn't even recognize. I wasn't concerned with them now; I was concerned with Felix. But the deeper I swam, the more I began to panic. Where was she?  
  
I was frantic. The water was clear, but it was also dark, and it was giving me ominous feelings I didn't want to have. There was no current to pull her anywhere. My head began to fill with strange and even stupid thoughts. Was she at the bottom? Could one of the plants ensnared her ankles and kept her from surfacing?  
  
My clothes were heavy with water, and I still had my shoes on. I kicked them off as I felt my lungs aching for air. I surfaced and gasped for breath before going under again. I dove deeper now, knowing that doing so would mean surfacing more often and losing a lot of time. The pool was several feet deep, and my ears felt as if they were going to pop. But I had to try.  
  
I surfaced for the second time and heard someone call my name. Confused, I ducked my head under and whirled around, searching. Then I came up and saw Felix kneeling by the side of the pool, hand outstretched. Without another thought, I took it and let her help me up. Exhausted, I lay panting beside her, slowly becoming aware that she was staring at me. I glanced at her once, just to see the serious expression on her face. Water droplets fell steadily from her hair. I was so relieved to see her alive.  
  
Then, she began to laugh. I stared at her, incredulous. She giggled when she saw my face and answered, "Hawkins, I didn't think you'd actually dive!"  
  
Instatnly, a wave of anger and embarrassment swept over me, and I sat up. I didn't mean to, but I let her have it full force. "You didn't think I'd actually dive?! Hello, I thought you were going to drown, Felix! What were you thinking? Was this a joke?"  
  
She raised her hands in an attempt to pacify me. She spoke defensively. "Woah, wait. I really did slip up on that tree, Hawkins. But - but I didn't think you'd dive. How deep would you have gone?"  
  
I couldn't believe it. I was blinded by fury, though it was probably more out of concern. "What do you mean, you didn't think I'd do it? Anybody would have done it, Felix! People care about you! How do you think Peter would have felt if I went back to your house and told him that you were gone? How do you think I would have felt if you were gone?!" I ran out of breath and inhaled deeply, still hurt.  
  
Felix was silent for a long time. I must have told myself, 'Well, I sure told her.' I was thinking that she'd learned something, though at the time I wasn't sure what... Then she said quietly, "I don't know, Hawkins. Maybe you could tell me. How would you have felt if I were gone?"  
  
I blinked, and I suddenly realized what I had said. Taken by surprise, I found that I had run out of words. I avoided looking at Felix and watched the ground, seeing the water dripping from my head and hitting the grass. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' I thought, pushing my hair out of my face, wondering what I could say.  
  
And I answered, just as quietly, "Well... like I said, Felix... People care about you."  
  
I was beginning to realize that uncomfortable silences were common when you were this close to one of the Helikoses. Indeed, we were quiet for some time when I finally looked up at her. She bit her lip. "It's not just 'people', is it, Jim?" I didn't answer; I looked down again, so she went on. "Up in the crow's nest, I - I heard you. When you thought I was asleep, I heard what you said... You know, about how you thought I was honorable, and - and that you cared. About me."  
  
There was nothing but the sound of the thundering waterfall and the churning water in the pool. I looked at Felix, and this time, she looked away. What was I supposed to say then? I didn't know what to do. Was I supposed to say something? To do something? To do what?  
  
"We should head back now," Felix said softly. "It'll be dark soon."  
  
Angry at myself for not having achieved anything, but grateful to Felix for ending the silence, I got up. Instinctively, I offered my hand to help her up. Then I pulled it back, just as she reached out for it. She put her hand away, before I could take it again, and stood up on her own. 'Look at me,' I prayed silently. 'Look at me, please.'  
  
But she kept her head down and turned. "Let's go, Hawkins."  
  
I stared after her retreating back. There had to be something I could do, something I could say, something that would make her understand what I meant... I couldn't just let her walk away. I grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her toward me. As my hand slid to her spine, I kissed her.  
  
She stiffened and struggled a little, and her nails dug into my arm. As the kiss went on, I felt her fingers as well as the rest of her body relax. The moment was perfect, oh, so perfect. I forgot the jungle, I forgot Montressor, I forgot the rest of the world - all I needed was in my arms, receiving my kiss. I hadn't meant to do it, but as it happened, I put in all the meaning I could possibly have...  
  
She tensed and pulled away, and I gasped for breath. She blinked, collecting her thoughts. Then a pained expression took over her face, and she looked at me.  
  
PAK!  
  
My hand went to my face, and I looked at her, confused. Her face was contorted with fury. "You - you stupid - !" she swore, in a language I didn't know. "What the hell was that, Hawkins?!" I reached for her, silently pleading, trying to force explanations out of my mouth, but she backed away. "You're way out of line," she said, stepping backward as I moved toward her. "No! No, don't touch me! Don't come near me!"  
  
"Felix," I finally managed to say. She shook her head and turned on her heel. I watched her disappear into the jungle. Once again, she'd left me alone. 


	14. Dalawang Dalaga

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 14: Dalawang Dalaga  
  
By the time I got back to the hidden house, I had scratches and cuts on my arms, legs, and face from blundering through the jungle to top off being soaking wet. I would have dried if it weren't for the strange, sticky juices dripping from some of the trees overhead.  
  
Dalaga was sitting on the steps, cradling Lakan. I ignored her completely and stormed in, frustrated and fatigued. Only moments later, I burst out again, still dirty and sticky and demanded, "Where's the bathroom?"  
  
Dalaga continued to sing serenely to her son, and I realized how rude and tactless I was being. She had a strange accent when she spoke the intergalactic language, and of course, I didn't understand what she was saying when she used her own tongue. But somehow, her soft voice soothed not just the whimpering baby in her arms, but myself as well...  
  
Tulog na, anak ko,  
  
Dadating ang ama mo.  
  
Babalik galing sa bayan,  
  
Para sa anak niyang si Lakan,  
  
May dalang bituin para sa iyo,  
  
Tulog na, tahimik ang mundo.*  
  
She then turned to me, still quietly cradling Lakan, and gave me a peaceful smile that made me feel guilty, like a child. "Turn right in the hall. It's the door at the end..." I thanked her and went inside.  
  
In the shower, I scrubbed so hard that my cuts stung. Dalaga's mysterious, exotic song had relieved a part of me, but I was still plagued by angry, regretful thoughts. I should have chosen my words carefully. I shouldn't have blown up in her face. I should never have agreed to come here. I should never have thought that she'd understand. I should never have kissed her...  
  
After dressing, I thought I'd go back outside and ask Dalaga where I'd sleep that night. I just wanted to get to bed and forget that this whole thing had never happened.  
  
"Kailangan nating umalis."  
  
I stopped short of the door when I heard Peter's voice. He and Dalaga were speaking softly, but in the stillness of the house, their voices were just above a murmer. I strained to hear more, even if I couldn't understand. They were outside, sitting on the steps where Dalaga had been waiting earlier.  
  
"Hindi ba't di pa ako pwedeng maglakbay?" Dalaga replied. They sounded as if they were arguing, and it went on like that for a while. Then, it seemed that Dalaga had finally given in to Peter, and she sighed. She spoke again, this time saying something about Felix.  
  
Peter's voice was full of concern. "Bakit. Anong nangyari?"  
  
Dalaga sighed. "Hindi ko sasabihin. Pero galit siya kay Jim."  
  
"Jim?"  
  
That part I understood. Had Felix told Dalaga anything? Was Dalaga telling the story to Peter now? I wished I knew what they were saying, but it was hopeless trying to decipher that alien tongue. I silently made my way back toward the bathroom; it was the only room in the house that I knew yet. "Anong ginawa ni Jim?" I heard Peter ask. I winced when I heard my name again and closed the door behind me. Then I pressed my ear against it and listened for the two of them to come inside. I'd have to see Peter, but maybe I could pretend to come out again and act like I was fresh out of the shower. My bath hadn't been that long ago, anyway.  
  
Sure enough, I heard the holo-screen door swing open. After a few seconds, I emerged and tried to casually rub my hair. Still, I looked warily at Peter and Dalaga. Dalaga stood at the door, watching me. Peter stood next to her with Lakan in his arms and watched me as well. I averted their gazes, and Peter said, "The guest room is at the other end of this hall. Last door on the right. You'll find everything you need." I mumbled a thank you, but I didn't look up. I could still feel his intent, searching gaze on my head.  
  
Peter went quietly up the stairs so as not to wake Lakan. I looked at Dalaga, who already had a foot on the first step. She gave a small smile, and her serene expression seemed to tell me that everything would be all right in the end. "Good night, Jim."  
  
=*=  
  
I thought that I was going to stay awake, tossing and turning, worrying about Felix, but I was wrong. I don't remember falling asleep, but the next thing I knew, the sunlight was teasing my eyelids open.  
  
Blinking, I pulled on some clothes and strapped on my boots, vaguely remembering the chase with Morph on the Legacy. Then I ambled out of the room toward the source of a warm, breakfast-y sort of aroma. It turned out to the the kitchen, where a plate of hot food, still steaming, was set out on an island countertop.  
  
Dalaga was just taking a glass out of a cabinet when she saw me, and she said sunnily, "Morning, Jim!" There was a squeal and a gurgle, and I noticed Lakan wiggling his little fingers at the sound of his mother's voice. He was lying in a small cradle on a bench by the counter. Dalaga set the glass down and poured purp juice into it, and then she put a bowl of some fruit slices next to the plate.  
  
"Sit. Have some breakfast. It'll be good for you."  
  
I sat down as she asked. I had to admit, I was hungry. But, wondering why I was dining alone, I asked, "Where are the others?"  
  
Dalaga sighed. "Peter had to go back to town. And Felix... went solar surfing."  
  
When I blinked, Dalaga laughed, and I realized that she had been watching me. She sat down on the bench beside Lakan and started cooing and tickling a bit. "From what I've heard about you, she's a girl after your own heart... or is it you after hers?"  
  
This time, I choked on my food. Swallowing, I gulped some juice to follow it and licked my lips. "What do you mean?"  
  
"Hay, ang dalaga na iyan..." she said in amusement. "She came running home, basa - wet, you know, and then she banged upstairs. I followed to ask what was wrong, and she told me." I reddened and looked down at my rice. Suddenly, I'd lost my appetite.  
  
I looked up when she started to sing, but I saw that she was smiling at Lakan, counting off his fingers. "Isa, dalawa, tatlo, apat, lima," she said, holding one tiny hand. "One two, three, fou, five," she said with the other. While she bent over her son, I noticed her long, straight, white-blonde hair. The sunlight through the kitchen window made her look like an angel; her hair and skin attained an ethereal glow. It also made her soft brown eyes shine amber. She was beautiful - it had to be no surprise that Peter had fallen for her. I, on the other hand, was concerned with another girl...  
  
When she looked at me again, she smiled. "Jim, don't worry. That girl is just confused. She isn't used to people outside her family showing affection - alam mo; you know that they didn't grow up popular. She isn't used to people telling her that they care..."  
  
I nodded. Dalaga continued, "O, you can see, ah. She isn't sure about her feelings and about yours. Being forced to face them made her angry. She has to be eased into them. She has to make moves of her own."  
  
I bit my lip. This was getting worse and worse. Dalaga was sugarcoating a bitter pill - I'd been a jerk. I was grateful when she changed the subject.  
  
"Peter wants us to move, so he can see Lakan every day," she said. "I guess I don't mind; it's lonely out here when he's out there. It's just me, the housemaid, and now Lakan... But we'll be with you on the Interloper tomorrow." Her voice had changed from soothing to a bit sorrowful. I guessed that she had liked playing housewife for a while, and now she was going to be uprooted.  
  
"Do you know what Lakan means?" she asked curiously, but we both knew I would shake my head. She smiled again. "It means 'leader' in my native language. I hope he'll be a leader, like his father... And 'dalaga' means 'young lady'," she added.  
  
I stood up to put the remains of my breakfast in the sink. As I turned, she said, "If you ask me, there's one dalaga you should talk to very soon..."  
  
*Sleep now, my son,  
  
Your father is coming.  
  
He will return from the town,  
  
For his son Lakan,  
  
He brings a star for you,  
  
Sleep now, the world is quiet.  
  
Author's Note: Dalaga's "native tongue" is actually Tagalog. I wanted her to be from another planet with its own language, but I didn't want to invent an entirely new one. 


	15. A Moment to Be Real

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 15: A Moment to Be Real  
  
Later that day, I found myself in a field of tall grass. The Takaran sun wasn't giving me a glow like it did Dalaga - if I didn't find some shade soon, I was going to return to the house with a sunburn. But I had to find Felix first.  
  
The grass came up to my chest - that's saying something; I'm tall - and it was also thick. The blades were sharp and gave me more tiny cuts in ten minutes than I had received lost in the jungle for an hour. There were brubloo trees here and there, and the grass came up to their lowest branches. I circled around and around in that field - she had to be somewhere on that blasted planet. I'd already gone through the jungle (more carefully this time), and the housemaid had said that she'd seen Felix heading in this direction. But she could be anywhere on this side of the planet.  
  
I decided to give up. She'd turn up at the house eventually, to pack her things. The Helikoses were clearing out, after all. I'd just wait for my chance there and pop in between and ask her if we could talk; if I could apologize for what I'd done...  
  
"Damn it, Hawkins, you take all day. If you must know, I'm over here!"  
  
Her exasperated voice had come from beneath one of the trees, and I tried to snake through the grass toward it. I only got more scratches, but finally, I was able to duck beneath one of the branches.  
  
Felix was sitting on a pile of leaves between the roots of the tree, a chain of white flowers in her hair. She leaned against the trunk and looked tired. Her solar surferlay at her feet, forgotten. She still looked angry, and she turned a brubloo over in her hand in thought before taking a bite out of it.  
  
She swallowed, and I opened my mouth to speak. "I - I went back to the waterfall. You said it was your secret spot, and I thought that maybe you'd go there a - "  
  
"For crying out loud, Hawkins," she said coldly, "did you actually think I'd go back there after what you did?"  
  
"I'm sorry, I just - "  
  
"You just what, Hawkins? Did you come here to explain yourself, or did Peter and Dalaga send you to find me? Well, I'm found, you can go now." She didn't look at me as she spoke; she only stared at the yellow skin of the brubloo. "I hope you get lost again."  
  
I frowned. This wasn't what I'd had in mind. I wasn't exactly sure what it was I had in mind, but I'd expected to play it by ear. I hadn't realized that Felixa Helikos was going to try and turn me tone deaf. I only stared at her till she finally rolled her eyes and looked at me. It was a silent battle of wills; I wondered who would look away first. Then, we spoke simultaneously.  
  
"Why do you have to be dramatic and go off alone?!"  
  
"Why can't you ever go away and leave me alone?!"  
  
Our voices combined to form one at the last word, and we went back to staring furiously at each other. Then she threw the brubloo at me. I was lucky; I ducked just in time. The yellow orb had grazed my ear. If I had been a few seconds late, that brubloo would have hit me square on the nose.  
  
"What is your problem?!" I demanded.  
  
She gave me a very good answer: "Hawkins, you are my problem!"  
  
"What have I ever done to you?"  
  
She yelled back, standing up, "Gee, I don't know, Hawkins. Maybe it was kissing me!"  
  
"I didn't mean to!" I retorted.  
  
"It sure felt like it!" she returned.  
  
"Well, at the time, Felix, you didn't stop me!"  
  
At that, she punched me in the jaw with surprising strength.  
  
I was stunned, but I recovered and grabbed her by the shoulders. I started to shake her. "Listen to me!" I bellowed, "Do you think you can just shut yourself up in some kind of force field like that? You think that just because the rest of the world doesn't care, I don't care?! Wake up and smell the purp juice, Felix! You're starting to believe the lies people tell about you!"  
  
I ran out of breath, and I relaxed my grip on her. I looked at her face and expected to see a defiant grimace, and perhaps a fist coiled to give me another smack. But she was crying. And Felix surprised me yet again when she fell forward and clasped her arms around me. I could hear and feel her sobbing against my shoulder, and my arms moved again to her back.  
  
"I'm sorry," we both whispered. I sighed. "Oh, hell, Felix, I didn't mean to blow up like that. I - I never did..." She didn't answer; she only shifted so I could put my own arms around her more easily. We stood there like that, under the brubloo tree, for a while. In that moment, we had both let our guards down. I could tell - and she could tell - that we both just wanted to be ourselves... to be real.  
  
After a while, I looked down at her, and she looked up at me. I tried to smile a comforting smile, and she laughed a little. Then she bit her lip and stepped back, wiping her eyes. Taking a deep breath, she looked me in the eye and managed to smile. "Thank you, Jim," she said. I just smiled back.  
  
She knelt and picked up the solar surfer, and she pulled the flower crown out of her hair. When she tossed it away, it fell right next to the brubloo that had just previously sailed past my head. I parted a way in the grass for her, and she stepped through.  
  
As I followed, I asked, "Can I kiss you again?"  
  
Her sweet peals of laughter filled the air, and I had to grin. I liked this Felix, leaving the brubloo tree, much more than I did the one I'd found underneath the branches. Just hearing her laugh made me think that things really would be better after this...  
  
"Um... no," she answered at last, causing me to stop short, knit my brows, and open my mouth in surprise. She just smiled over her shoulder as we walked and then faced forward again. But watching her hair shine in the sunlight, I remembered what Dalaga had said to me that morning. I had to let her make moves on her own.  
  
For days to come, I would always think back to that moment under the tree. Felix had me more confused than ever, but there was nothing complicated in that embrace. What's simple is true. 


	16. A Guided Tour Through the Past

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 16: A Guided Tour Through the Past  
  
Felix hopped up onto her solar surfer to avoid getting scratched up the way I was. As she whipped around overhead, I was soon running to catch up. Keeping my eyes on her, I was soon mezmerized. On a solar surfer, I'm one for mind-blowing tricks and stunts and whooping at the top of my lungs. Felix had enough to rival my talents, but she sliced through the air in a quiet grace. She started to remind me of the legendary Angel of Deukalion we'd heard about in class. Just as she shot up and eclipsed the sun, her hair seemed to flare out around her face and turn golden at the tips...  
  
I tripped on a root and fell flat on my face. Immediately, I felt the stinging on my skin triple, and I swore. It got Felix's attention; when I got up, she raised her eyebrow at me and smirked.  
  
"My word, Hawkins, I didn't know your vocabulary was almost as colorful as mine."  
  
I spat out some dirt and what actually felt like a bug and grimaced in disgust. Felix laughed, making me look up at her and asked, "When are we going to get back?"  
  
Grinning, she pointed and said, "Now."  
  
I followed her index finger and saw that we were looking at the back of the house; just a few meters away, the tall grass stopped for several yards of freshly mown lawn. I could spot a droid locking the grass laser up in the shed.  
  
Felix unclipped the locks on her shoes and flipped into the air. She landed neatly on the lawn with the solar surfer under her arm.  
  
"Showoff," I muttered. She cleared her throat and I looked up as I brushed myself off, but she said nothing as we walked to the back door. I asked, "You're telling me that I went through that blasted jungle again for you and this - this - torture is part of your backyard?!"  
  
She shrugged. "It's a big backyard... Purp juice?"  
  
I followed her through the door and into the kitchen where she set her surfer down on its side. It was then that I'd noticed the art on the bottom: a black, furry creature with green eyes and silver whiskers crouching on the bottom end of a crescent. "Did you do that yourself?"  
  
She shook her head. "No. My father did... That's him there, in the picture above you."  
  
At that I looked up into the intense blue eyes of a man and stepped back, startled. My movement activated the hologram, and I watched the man grin and wave. He was holding up a baby and pointing out the camera to it. It was then that I recognized Peter in his arms. Stefan Helikos himself had the same face and was in fact quite handsome. His hair was almost as blue as his eyes, and it puzzled me. As he smiled, I recognized the smile that often showed up on the face of his children, but I also saw that Felix didn't look as much like him as I thought...  
  
"How come your hair isn't blue like your dad's?" I asked as Felix thrust a glass of juice under my nose. She stood beside me and gulped, watching the hologram play again.  
  
"I take more after my mother than I do my dad, but I guess I have some parts of his face... It's Peter whose hair and eyes are gonna turn blue, probably in a few years."  
  
I was surprised. "Really? You sure yours won't?"  
  
She shook her head. "Dad had our DNA checked way back. It's just Peter."  
  
I nodded. "So... your dad was a, you know, a - "  
  
"Half-breed?" she finished casually. I looked at her, and I saw that it didn't bother her as much as it did me sometimes. "Yeah, his mother was from Deukalion Seven... You wanna see the rest of the house?"  
  
I gave an okay, and Felix took my glass out of my hand and put it in the sink. I watched Stefan Helikos grin and wave one last time, and then I shut the hologram off. Once more, he was still, and I found myself looking away from an intent, blue gaze.  
  
I followed Felix upstairs and found myself in the center of a hall that went left and right. "On the right, you'll see Peter's door," she said, and sure enough, there was a white door with some swirls of blue and green paint on it. "I think he and Dalaga are in there now, so... Do not disturb," she added with a laugh.  
  
We passed another white door. This one had the same black animal and crescent moon that I had seen on the back of Felix's board, and as I'd guessed, she said, "That's my room. But don't go in there, it's a mess... This is my father's room." And she opened the door.  
  
That surprised me. Of all the rooms in our home, I kept my father's study closed. I can't even remember what it looks like; it's been nine years since I last saw it. But here we were, stepping into a room that was regularly swept and dusted.  
  
There were pictures, sketches, and paintings everywhere I turned. There was a bookshelf and a desk. Everything was in neat piles and in order. Felix laughed. "Dad always liked to know where everything was..."  
  
There was an easel and a small couch by the window, and its hologram was set to the waterfall where Felix and I... On the easel was an unfinished painting of the little Helikos family. The three of them were standing by the helm, with their father in the middle. Peter had the First Mate's hat that was now with Felix; they were both younger. Felix still wore that green bandanna of hers. The three of them were looking in the direction of Captain Stefan's pointed finger and smiling...  
  
"Dad was working on that before we left," Felix said. I realized that she was standing next to me again. I could detect the faint scent of flowers from her hair and guessed that the crown had left it behind... I decided that it suited her.  
  
"Then we went on his last voyage. We were boarded by pirates..." I watched her eyes. They still sparkled, but the expression was still sad. There were no tears this time, though. She actually smiled in fond recollection. "The last thing he did was toss Peter his hat and tell us to take care of each other while he was gone..."  
  
The room was silent, and I groaned inwardly. I turned and spotted the books and, to stop the quiet, asked, "Did you ever go to school? Did you ever have friends?"  
  
She laughed a little. "Dad found a schoolteacher who'd just been sacked. He was desperate for work, so we took him along on voyages for about - eleven years. No regular school would take us... And as for friends, there are some kids on Takara who ride the Interloper regularly, to go to the Academy. They were the ones we grew up with..." When I nodded, she continued. "I can't wait to see some of them again," she said.  
  
We went through some photos and holograms, with Felix explaining everything along the way. I learned so much about her in that study. She and Peter were actually like a lot of my friends at the Academy - troublemakers with good hearts. Actually, they were a lot like me.  
  
Peter hollered for us to come down, and I blinked. I hadn't realized how much time had passed, but I followed Felix to the door. Before I closed it, I took one last look at the sunlit, cheery study... An old frame in the corner caught my eye.  
  
When Felix realized that I wasn't behind her, she stepped back into the study to find me staring up at the tiny, sepia-toned picture framed and sitting in a corner of the bookshelf.  
  
"That's my dad, and Uncle Jack," she said. I stared at the man beside Captain Helikos. He was tall and dark-haired, and he had a pair of pale eyes and a smile that seemed to say, "I dare you..." He and the Captain had their arms around each other's shoulders like old friends would. He wasn't as tall as the Captain, but he was just as lean and muscled. His skin was slightly fairer, and he had prominent cheekbones.  
  
"They met at a spaceport around eight years ago; Uncle Jack's ship had been badly damaged in an electromagnetic storm, so Dad offered him passage to Gra - "  
  
"Is he really your uncle?" I interrupted, still staring at the picture. The shock of seeing the familiar face, the anger beginning to creep into my veins put me into some kind of staring contest with the man.  
  
Felix shook her head. "No, he just asked us to call him that. He sometimes drops by here, to see us. He brings little presents and things like that. We haven't seen him since Dad died, though..."  
  
I bit my lip. "Did he tell you his name was really Jack?"  
  
"No. His name was actually - "  
  
"Leland Hawkins," I finished. 


	17. The Last Night

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 17: The Last Night  
  
I stared at the smiling man. I hadn't wanted her to, but Felix activated the hologram. Captain Helikos and Leland Hawkins waved at the camera. And then out of nowhere, the latter turned and caught an eight-year-old Felix and swung her around while the Captain laughed.  
  
"Relative of yours? I forgot to ask you," Felix said as I watched.  
  
I scowled as little Felix was swept up onto his shoulders. "My father."  
  
She was startled. "No kidding! I wonder why he never mentioned you..."  
  
I raised an eyebrow and looked at her. If she said one word about the two of us having the same personality, or even the same face -   
  
"Felix, for the last time, come down for dinner!"  
  
She groaned and shut off the hologram, turning on her heel and stomping out the door. I followed, not looking back for a second.  
  
As we washed our hands, Felix called out to Peter and said, "Hey, guess what! Uncle Jack is - " But I caught her eye and made a slashing motion across my neck. She was puzzled, but she thought quickly and said, "Is - is - I mean, he's been gone for a while now, hasn't he?" She hissed in addition to me, "What's with you?"  
  
Peter didn't answer; he was in deep discussion with Dalaga at the dinner table. Dalaga looked a bit annoyed, which surprised me. For someone who struck me as one at peace with herself and the world, she looked very pissed off. She sighed and uttered something in her language, and Peter rubbed her back and kissed her on the cheek, whispering in a relaxing tone. He then looked up at me and told me to sit down.  
  
"Dalaga and Lakan aren't coming with us tomorrow," he announced as Felix took the chair next to me. She poured water into the glasses, sensing that I was tired of juice. All of a sudden, I felt tired of everything.  
  
Peter continued. "Ranga spoke to me today, while we were readying the ship."  
  
"You prepped the Interloper without me?" Felix interjected incredulously.  
  
Peter shrugged before going on. "You must have forgotten; you disappeared." Felix stepped on my foot. "Anyway, Ranga told me that Dalaga was right; it's too early for her and Lakan to travel. So I'll be going ahead to Montressor, to find us a house there - "  
  
"Montressor?" This time, I was the one who interrupted.  
  
"It'll be nearer the spaceport," Felix explained.  
  
And me... Momentarily, I forgot seeing my father and glanced at Felix. "I was saying," Peter put in pointedly, "that it'll be a better place to raise Lakan. The Takaran High Council says that it doesn't need us anymore." I inferred that he meant that the Council didn't want them near their planet anymore. "We can make a fresh start. All of us."  
  
Felix smiled, and even the corner's of the cranky Dalaga's mouth moved upward. I blinked and grinned, and I said, "You know, while you're looking, you can stay at the Benbow. There's lots of room." Peter and Dalaga exchanged looks, and glanced at Felix. I did, too, but she was cleaning up her plate and putting the last of the food into her mouth. I cleared my throat and stood up, offering to do the dishes.  
  
Dalaga, relieved, accepted the offer and went up to bed. Peter followed, leaving Felix helping me put the plates and cups in the sink. I was silent as I worked. After doing similar work at the Benbow, there was really nothing to it - I was going through the motions of dishwashing like a robot, leaving my mind free to think...  
  
Felix sang softly, so softly that I could just barely hear her. I started thinking about seeing my father's picture again and glanced at her. He came to this house to visit, to play with them when they were kids. He brought them little gifts and joked around like a good "uncle". My father must have been closer to her than he ever was to me... I was jealous, and angry. Life did twist so strangely.  
  
"Why didn't you want me to tell Parker about Uncle Ja - your dad?" Felix asked after a while. It was then I realized that she'd stopped singing.  
  
I was the one who didn't answer for a while. She waited patiently, drying the plates I handed her. We were almost done.  
  
"He wasn't really much of a dad... I don't like to think about him much," I finally answered.  
  
Felix dropped it at that. I was thankful, especially when the dishes were done and she was wiping her hands. She looked up at me thoughtfully, and I raised an eyebrow at her. But she just smiled and said, "Good night, Jim. Get some sleep. We'll be leaving early tomorrow."  
  
I watched her put the dishtowel down and walk out the kitchen door. I sighed and looked around the kitchen before leaving. Suddenly, I wanted to be as far away from this house as possible. 


	18. Departure Time

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 18: Departure Time  
  
"Most of this sun's passengers will be students or professors going back to school," Peter said as the two of us loaded the longboat with Ranga, in the front yard. "That means stops at Ipso 23, Lunore, and Pifsen. Any farther than that, and they take another ship from Montressor."  
  
I nodded absently. It was back to school now. No more summer, which meant no more summer job. And that meant goodbye, Interloper; goodbye, Peter; goodbye Ranga. Goodbye Felix... A month going, a month returning. One month was not enough time iwth Felix to judge if I was really in love with her. Maybe it wasn't love, just strong liking. Maybe it was my raging hormones. Maybe she was simply convenient...  
  
I looked up suddenly from the longboat as her laughter rang through the stillness of the cool morning air. Speak of the devil. She was wide awake, and so was the baby in her arms. Felix made faces and kissed Lakan, who burbled with baby giggles. He reached up an arm and grabbed at her face, and she laughed when his little hand smacked her cheek. "You're gonna miss me, huh?" she cooed. "You're gonna miss Felix, huh Lakan?" And at that moment, Ranga, on the other side of the longboat, gave it a push. The side of the longboat knocked me lightly in the chest, forcing me to step back. He raised his hairless silver brow, and I knew what he was thinking. I snorted and looked away.  
  
Peter took Lakan from Felix as well as a turn at his funny faces and you're-gonna-miss-me's. On the Interloper, he would once again be Captain Peter Stefan Helikos. But here, in the middle of the Takaran forests, he was just Peter: a brother, husband, and father. I had to smile a little. One day, and probably one day soon, Peter would just be Peter - not for a few months, but for the rest of his life. I loved spacing, and so did this guy. But, as my mother used to say, what you're searching for out there might already be waiting for you down here... Pity my father never listened to her. I looked away from them, and I saw Felix, who smiled a little.  
  
"All aboard!" Ranga called, imitating the now-obsolete train conductors. Felix whipped another bandanna out, but this time she used it to pull her hair into a ponytail. Her profile was then clearer, and the early morning light had traced out a soft, golden glow, especially in her cheeks, eyes, and lips... Peter, still holding Lakan, helped Dalaga aboard. Then Felix, Ranga, and I clambered in after them.  
  
The longboat hummed to life beneath us, making Lakan squeal with delight and Peter laugh, and soon we were on our way. Except for Ranga, who was pilot, all of us were looking back at the house, watching the first rays of the sun bounce off the windows. Then, the house disappeared, hidden once again in the Takaran jungle.  
  
=*=  
  
As we entered Atik with our things, Ranga told me that after we boarded the ship, he'd have to ferry Dalaga back to the house. "As a Captains wife, she at least knows the basics of piloting a longboat. But she's got her hands full with Lakan," he said. "You'll have to take care of the passengers while I'm gone.  
  
Once again, Atik and her townspeople tensed as we passed, with Captain Helikos in the lead. But this tension puzzled me. It was different. It wasn't just tension, it was almost... anticipation. The air was thick with it, and I didn't like it. It was sinister. The eyes of some people gleamed with some sort of grim satisfaction. "Storm's brewing," Ranga whispered. I nodded. Never mind the gloriously blue sky and sweet white clouds.  
  
Indeed, the Captain, Dalaga, and Felix noticed it, too. Even Lakan, who had been happily gurgling and laughing, was silent. He began to whimper, and Dalaga shushed him and held him close to her chest. The townspeople stood in their doorways and looked out their windows, disdainfully watching our little parade. Felix looked at me and bit her lip. This couldn't mean anything good.  
  
At the dock, there were Takaran soldiers, and we stopped. They hadn't seen us yet, and from the look on Peter's face, they weren't planning to amiably see us off. "Something's wrong," Felix whispered.  
  
"Psst!" hissed someone in a side street to the left. We all looked, and a figure in a hooded cloak gestured for us to come over. "Quickly," he snarled, "before they see you!" Before we could wonder if we were to trust this stranger, we scuttled into the side street, and he pulled off his hood.  
  
A dark-haired, blue-eyed boy grinned at us, and Felix gasped with pleasure. "Leandro!" she cried, slapping him a high five. I gaped as I did the same. It was Leandro Simaun, an ISA schoolmate. He was a few inches taller than Felix, had hair so black it was almost blue, and frosty blue eyes. He had rugged features and a summer tan, but the well-toned muscles had always been there. Leandro was not my best friend, but we did meet up in detention a few times. He grinned wickedly.  
  
"What are you doing here?" I asked incredulously. "I thought you went home to Deukalion!"  
  
He shrugged. "The Interloper's the quickest ship back to Montressor for twelve jumps," he answered.  
  
"And the only ship," Ranga added.  
  
But there was no time for us to laugh as Leandro's expression turned quite serious. He gave Parker a worried look, and he checked over our shoulders. "Move further in," he said, stepping back and gesturing. "We have to go the long way around to your ship."  
  
We followed him as he ducked into an alley. He was quick and light on his feet, but so were we, and we had no trouble keeping up with him. I had a terrible feeling about what Leandro had to say. The soldiers, the glares from the townspeople, and that weird feeling in the air - they were all adding up to something. And when Leandro stopped, checked if we were in the clear, and turned to face us, I knew I was right.   
  
He looked up at the Captain. "Those kawals over there," he said, "are here to arrest you. You and your entire crew."  
  
Author's Note: I haven't been updating this fic for a while - not that there are enough readers for that to matter to anyone else... Anyhow, I'm back from Andrew's Reason to finish this one. Hope you like where it's going so far. 


	19. Escape From Takara

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 19: Escape from Takara  
  
There were cries of outrage, and Leandro raised his hands and shushed us all. I couldn't understand it. Captain Helikos was a good man. He and his sister were repaying their father's debt to society. They were clean.  
  
"How can this be?" Felix asked. Frustration crept in and began to blaze in her green eyes. "On what charge?"  
  
Leandro motioned for us to keep our voices down, and he glanced around again. Then he looked at the Captain, and only the Captain. "Piracy."  
  
There were more angry interjections, and Leandro frantically waved for us to keep quiet. "Look, look, and listen to me. It sounds incredible, but that's what's happening. They've seized the Interloper and the crewmen aboard - they were only waiting for you. If you'd looked, you'd've seen that everyone else - Baewong, Luygef, Sylik and the others - they're in shackles, just waiting for you to join them."  
  
Captain Peter's face was calm, but his dark eyes held the same blaze in his sister's. It seemed just my imagination, but they actually seemed to pale a bit, from darkest brown to amber... "Explain," he said quietly. At once, Felix, Ranga, Dalaga, and I stopped our mental fidgeting, and the only people in the world left were now Leandro and the Captain.  
  
Leandro sighed. "There was an attack," he began, "somewhere near Glofxa, on one of the ships in the Royal Fleet. A second ship came to assist, and the pirates escaped, but not without killing several officers. Some of them were captured, and now there's a hunt for the rest of them."  
  
"So what does that have to do with me?" the Captain asked, still speaking softly. "I was here, on Takara the whole time."  
  
"You know that, and I know that. But nobody else does. For all they know, after you docked, you could have run off to join Hicxon."  
  
At the mention of the name, I knew that the Helikos blood ran cold. Felix's hand, almost involuntarily, went to the dagger slung at her hip.  
  
"Hicxon," she murmured.  
  
Leandro looked at the Captain. "Baewong told me, before the arrest, that you'd been attacked by Hicxon on your way over, and that it didn't fit."  
  
"That's true," answered the Captain.  
  
I stood in awe of this man - he was only a year older than me, but Captain Peter Helikos was a man. He didn't lash out, he didn't grab a cutlass to go slashing at the kawals on the dock. The only hints of his fury were his burning eyes and clenched fists. I knew this was a man to fear, because you can never know how terrible his wrath might be...  
  
"Did they take anything?" Leandro asked.  
  
Captain Helikos nodded. "Some of the money, but none of the cargo." That we all knew, and we still could not see how our Captain could be tied to crime - murder and piracy together.  
  
"And?" When Leandro asked this, I realized that he was pressing for something else. "What else did he take?" he asked.  
  
The Captain bowed his head. "In the fight, one of his men pulled my father's silver medallion off my neck. I never saw it again."  
  
Leandro nodded, Felix's eyes widened as she gasped, and Ranga bowed his head, too. All this time, Dalaga had been just like her lover - calmly taking it all in. But her eyes weren't angry, they were thinking, worried eyes.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" Felix asked her brother. "Why didn't you tell me they took the medallion?"  
  
"I didn't want you to know!" retorted the Captain. Felix stared sadly, angrily at him, and he scowled. He turned back to Leandro. "They found it. They found it, didn't they? In the debris?"  
  
Leandro nodded solemnly, and we were silent for a while. "The Core of Alvés. Those Royal kawals assumed right away that you were part of the attack. Naturally, none of Hicxon's crew denied it."  
  
Felix hissed and swore, and there was that feral gleam in her eye again. "Filthy pirates!" Her knuckles were white, and she slowly raised her clenched fists. "I swear, when I get my hands on that Drom Hicxon, I'll - "  
  
"You'll do nothing," the Captain said quietly. "Because I have to defend myself. I need to talk to those kawals."  
  
Leandro thrust a hand on the Captain's shoulder, stopping him from turning around. "You and I know that they aren't going to listen to you. You saw those people out there. They just want to be rid of you all."  
  
I looked at Felix, and a helpless but angry expression filled her face. Her eyes began to tear, and she gruffly wiped them on her bare arm. Dalaga began to hum softly as Lakan began to whimper again. "We're escaping then?" I asked the Captain. He nodded and looked at Dalaga. I realized that she wouldn't be going back to the little house as planned. In fact, none of us standing there that day would ever see it again.  
  
"Here's the plan," began the Captain.  
  
==  
  
"You ready?" I whispered into Felix's ear. I tried to shift my feet, but they wouldn't budge in the locks. Good. I tightened my arms around her waist. She looked at me, slight fear with plenty of determination in her bright eyes, and replied, "Yes." She gave the starter a light kick, and we were airborne.  
  
After the Captain had explained his plan, Felix and I had gone back through the forest for her solar surfer and some belongings. It was a good thing her board was sturdy; it would hold our weight while we flew. The engine ran smoothly, so we'd be able to sneak past the kawals without a sound. And it moved swiftly, because we had to do the same. I piloted with my arms around her while she held a sack, but what I felt was far from romantic. Still, the two of us shared the same emotion: slight fear but plenty of determination.  
  
We sailed over the forest to the edge of Amlet, another small town. Felix told me which way to turn. There, below us, Ranga waited in the longboat with Dalaga and Lakan. Ranga raised his silver arms, and Felix dropped the sack of things into them. We then made our way back to the docks of Atik.  
  
Noiselessly, we sneaked over the rooftops and skirted the soldiers. As we passed, we could see Baewong, Luygef, and the others standing proudly in the hot sun, shackles tight around their wrists and ankles. Felix snorted. "It's gonna take more than a ball and chain to lock the crew of the Interloper up."  
  
I nodded as we flew to a spot behind a huge tree. "I hope you're right, Felix." I answered, watching the street. "I hope you're right."  
  
My eyes took in the two kawals onboard the Interloper; that meant that none of the crew was there, on deck or below. Still, two kawals wouldn't be too hard to beat... The next moment, the soldiers suddenly straightened up. One of the kawals - obviously an officer - stepped up and in front of the gangplank.  
  
Captain Helikos was walking straight down the middle of the street with Leandro close behind. Like a wind sweeping leaves out of its path, as the Captain passed, the townspeople stepped back and went into their homes, slamming the doors. They were going to watch, but they didn't want to be part of it. It amazed me that a harmless eighteen-year-old could scare an entire town, but then again, Captain Helikos didn't look eighteen, and no one knew that he was harmless.  
  
"Captain Peter Helikos!" barked the officer. "I place you under arrest for the murderous attacks on the RLS Galaxy Dancer, and for collaborating with the pirate captain Drom Hicxon."  
  
Captain Helikos opened his mouth to answer, but he spoke quietly, and we were too far off to hear what he was saying. But we moved into position above the crow's nest. The kawals below us paced lazily back and forth but did not look up. I unwrapped my arms from around her waist, and Felix fell, catching and swinging herself up onto the rigging. She scrambled out of sight, behind one of the sails. I descended into the crow's nest, left the solar surfer there, and climbed down to a similar position.  
  
The kawals pushed Leandro aside and seized the Captain. I looked for Felix, and for a split second a sail flashed. She stood up and dove straight for one of the kawals, giving a yell. I followed for the second one.  
  
At the sound of Felix's voice, Luygef gripped the chain in his massive hands and began swinging the ball around in the air. The other prisoners jumped out of the way, but those of Luygef's size and strength did the same, using the iron spheres to plow into the kawals around them. The more nimble ones like Baewong slipped in and out like needles and thread, grabbing keys and removing the chains. They retrieved weapons and threw them to their owners.  
  
The Captain, meanwhile, had thrown off some of the men surrounding him, and he was now fighting his way to the gangplank. Leandro was close behind, guarding his back. Felix had disappeared to prep the ship for a quick getaway. I was on the other side, bringing Ranga, Dalaga, and Lakan in. Ranga went to help the Captain while I hurried mother and child into a room below. Our engineer scrambled over the side and on deck at the same time I reappeared.  
  
"Where is First Mate?" he barked.  
  
"She's below! Take your position and send her back up to the helm!"  
  
"Aye!"  
  
I joined the combat on the gangplank; the kawals were trying to board. Most of the crew brought up the rear, though, and helped toss the soldiers aside. The officer lay unconscious on the dock, but no one paid attention.  
  
"She's ready, Captain!" came the call. I turned my head for a moment and saw Felix, bandanna and hair waving in the wind. The sails were fully unfurled, and I saw the glittering surge of power spread across each one.  
  
Captain Helikos gave a roar, and everyone's pace quickened. The kicks and punches were more furious, but any weapons were used mainly in defense. We all knew that we couldn't take any blood onto our hands. The Captain, the crew, and I steadily backed up the gangplank, keeping the kawals back. Luygef, still on the dock, heaved himself up a nearby tree while fending off several soldiers. He made a great leap and landed on deck, causing the entire ship to shudder.  
  
"Pull her up, Luygef!" cried the Captain. And in answer, the great creature's massive hands gripped the gangplank and used it like a lever till we were level with the ship. Kawals fell left and right, but the fleetfooted Interloper crew scrabbled and climbed on board, hurdling over the railing and hurrying into defensive position.  
  
The Interloper shuddered, and a cry of triumph and excitement rose up from the crew as the ship rose with it. Sylik pushed the last kawal off and back onto the dock.  
  
"Don't you think they can catch up with us?" I asked foolishly.  
  
Leandro, who had climbed aboard as well, grinned at me. "You weren't listening to me earlier, Hawkins." I raised an eyebrow, and he gave me a pat on the back and thumbed his nose at one of the soldiers on the dock. "The Interloper is the quickest ship around for twelve jumps. Those morons wouldn't catch up to us if their lives depended on it."  
  
I looked up at Felix by the helm, and she waved, smiling. The Captain laughed and crowed for joy. "All hands to stations, gents!" he called, cupping a hand to his mouth as he swung from the rigging. "We're outta there!" 


	20. Weave

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 20: Weave  
  
For days after our escape from Takara, we were all in high spirits, and there was nothing else talked about at the table. The story was pulled and stretched in all sorts of places by the crew to the point where kicking a kawal in the shins became leveling half the squadron. Gradually, though, things settled back into their comfortable old positions. That was when the Captain began to worry.  
  
"He's got a lot on his mind," Felix said to me one afternoon. We were back at her usual spot at the helm, with me leaning against the railing and watching her. I liked how afternoon light would skim across those cheekbones and bronze her heart-shaped face. The corners of her light rosy lips turned up slightly. I liked how she wore her golden-reddish-brown hair loose now, instead of held back in that bandanna.  
  
"Hawkins... Jim, you aren't listening to me."  
  
"Huh?" I answered stupidly. She wrinkled her sweet little nose at me and gave me a funny, questioning look. I straightened up immediately, and she laughed and shook her head. It was as if I had never kissed her, as if I had never held her close. Ever. That kind of bothered me, but it must have been some kind of good sign if she'd put it behind her and was being friendly with me again. She was relaxed.  
  
"I was saying, Jim, that Peter's worried about Dalaga."  
  
"Why?" I asked.  
  
She sighed and nodded her head at the people below. As it was late afternoon, the crew was lazing around, roughhousing a bit or making obnoxious, loud jokes. But otherwise, they were relaxing. I noticed the Captain holding Lakan in his arms as he stood with Dalaga at the prow. They were the picture of a perfect family.  
  
"She isn't sick, is she?" I continued.  
  
Felix shook her head. "Nah. It's just... not just Dalaga he's worried about. He's worried about all of us. When the kawals came to the dock, they sent all our scheduled passengers away, and all the cargo was returned." She cast her eyes down, and then she looked up, but not at me. A faraway look crept into her bottle green eyes, and I understood.  
  
Without cargo, without passengers - after what Leandro had done, they wouldn't let him pay - the Helikos family was in trouble. If they didn't find any more money soon, this would be the last run of the Interloper. The crew would be paid off, and the ship would be sold. Captain Peter would be jobless with the authorities after him; once we docked, we'd probably have to stage another great escape. The little family would be on the run, with no place to stay...  
  
No place to stay.  
  
"You know," I said softly, my idea creeping up on me, "we could dock at the Benbow, instead of in the main spaceport." I was pleased at my own good fortune and ingenuity. "If you don't go straight to the main port, you won't find the authorities looking for you. Our dock's not been used except by guests, and since summer's ending, we don't expect very many. You, the Captain, Dalaga, Lakan - everyone! - you can stay at the Inn."  
  
Felix gaped at me in wonder, and she shook her head. "Oh, we couldn't!" she said. But the hope and gratitude filling her eyes betrayed her, and I smiled and said that yes, they could. She bit her lip and gave a small jump, and then she surprised me. She went over me and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, and she said, "Thank you, Jim." She grinned and continued, "Here, take the helm a moment. I'll go tell Peter!"  
  
I obeyed and, a little giddy I guess, watched her run lithely across the deck and climb up to the prow to join her brother. Her hair had swept beautifully back again, turning red and gold in the sun... The Captain had been surprised, but after she spoke, his face lit up, and he waved at me, grinning madly.  
  
I waved back, and then grasped the helm again as it rolled to the side. Blushing, I grinned sheepishly as Felix and Leandro laughed. I smiled, and then I saw them exchange some knowing looks. Their eyes met - Leandro on deck and Felix in the prow - and they smiled, too. I shouldn't have dismissed it the way I had that day.  
  
=*=  
  
There wasn't much we could do to pass the time except swap stories and do some minor repairs to the ship. The passenger cabins were cleaned more quickly and locked up without occupants. There was no cargo, so we were able to reinforce the hull. I spent a lot of time in the engine room, getting some hands-on lessons on powering a ship.  
  
I also spent a lot of time hanging out with Felix and Leandro.  
  
I didn't notice anything at first; I was just glad to have my schoolmate onboard the ship. We pulled pranks on each other and on the crew (Luygef was a favorite target), and we sat around juggling brubloos and purps between us. The three of us would climb into the rigging and try to top each other's stunts, making the Interloper and the skies around her ring with our raucous whoops and cries. We drove each other to tears, laughing.  
  
"Man, how did you guys meet, anyway?" I asked one day, wiping the corner of my eye. Leandro and I had just told Felix about the day we broke out of detention by sliding down the drainpipe and into the groundskeeper's wheelbarrow below. Five minutes later, we were back in the detention room, covered in dirt and grass.  
  
It was early morning - the three of us had awoken at midnight and prepped the mess hall for Leandro's latest ingenious prank. We were sitting on a scaffolding plank suspended from the rigging, with Felix between us boys. She leaned back on her wrists, legs dangling and ankles crossed. She wore a pair of khaki shorts that day, and a white blouse. Leandro sat on her left side, braiding beads into her hair. Dim light became her; her hair, hanging loose, turned dark, but the stars lent their feeble, silvery glow to her skin and her eyes...  
  
Felix looked at Leandro, and he raised an eyebrow. Then he grinned. "I'm from Deukalion, right?" I nodded. That was obvious with his blue-black hair and frosty blue eyes. The tattoo-like markings on his back were proof of that, too. Leandro continued, "Well, Felix's grandmother was from Deukalion Seven, and she was pretty friendly with MY grandmother. Our families have been friends for decades."  
  
"But it was only when his parents offered him as cabin boy to my dad, when he was ten," Felix added. "He was kinda... 'frustrated', knowing that some scrawny little girl like me - I'm a year younger, too - could boss him around."  
  
I laughed, trying to imagine squeaker Leandro swabbing the deck under a smaller Felix's supervision. "Let me guess," I said, tossing Leandro a smirk, "you quit?"  
  
We all laughed, and he hung his head in mock submission. "It was the most humiliating experience of my life," he answered. "But I hung around, sailing on the Interloper every summer," he added. Then he looked up at her, and she was silent. Something passed between their eyes. "She sure's no scrawny little girl now..."  
  
That was when I realized that there was more to Felix and Leandro than I thought. It was kind of... stirring, to see them interact. Each filled the gap in the other's conversation. They had jokes and stories they both knew and were only happy to share with me. "Remember when Dad strung you up from the crow's nest for hoarding purps?" Felix would begin. And Leandro's blue eyes would brighten as if on cue, and he'd say, "Ah, yeah! That was hilarious!" They'd collapse into laughter, and I'd laugh a little, imagining the picture they painted. Leandro would add, "You shoulda been there, Hawkins!"  
  
"Wish I was," I'd answer quietly. Then I'd listen again, and watch. It wasn't their talk so much as the way they moved around each other that clued me in on their closeness. The way Leandro would smile, and the way Felix's green eyes would sparkle... They never touched, but I sensed something had very tightly woven them together. I realized that compared to this weave, anything I had with Felix was fraying yarn. 


	21. GreenEyed Monster

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 21: Green-Eyed Monster  
  
Felix's smiling, beautifully exotic face filled my field of vision as I opened my eyes. Some of her hair slipped out from behind one ear, and I noticed that Leandro's beads were gone... Evening starlight streamed in around her from the open door as she bent over my bunk, her arms bare, the square neck of her white night dress cut lower than usual. The Angel of Deukalion...  
  
She made a quick glance around her and then smiled back at me. She pressed her finger to her lips, her emerald green eyes twinkling with laughter. For the life of me, at that moment I didn't know why, but she took my hand and mouthed the words, follow me, her eyes shining with something I could not understand.  
  
I stood up wide-eyed, wide-awake. She walked, barefoot, a few steps before me, and then she stopped in the doorway and turned. My breath caught, and I just stared for a few seconds. I doubt I could have stood in eternity just watching her, though, and I quickened my steps toward her. She gave a soft laugh and dashed up on deck.  
  
I followed quickly, vaguely thinking that perhaps Leandro was waiting with another prank for us. But my mouth dropped open as stars and clouds of all colors and sizes filled the heavens as well as my eyes. Felix laughed out loud. "Isn't it beautiful?" she exclaimed, grabbing hold of my arm.  
  
I nodded and turned. "I should call Leandro, he'd want to see this," I said, backing away, but keeping my eyes on that glorious sky. But Felix grabbed my hand.  
  
"He's asleep," she said.  
  
I couldn't believe that. I knew that Leandro, that artistic nut with appreciation for all things beautiful, had to see this. "I'll wake him," I answered.  
  
"No," she insisted, pulling me back. "At least... not yet. Let's... let's just watch it ourselves. Just for a moment..."  
  
I looked at her then, and my heart did skip a beat. The stars and her thick reddish-brown hair framed her magnificently, and it was as if the deck was flooded with golden light. She was absolutely alluring, and the fact that she was in her night dress only made her more so... One word escaped my lips, and it was her name, in a whisper. "... Felix..."  
  
Her eyes were raised hungrily to the zenith of the etherium, exposing a surprisingly tempting throat. I felt her tapered fingers warm as they held onto my sleeve, and she stood so close I could almost taste the warmth of the rest of her. But it was her green eyes, filled with wonder and delight and almost luminous in the starlight, that had me stunned.  
  
She broke away, and I reached for her hand but missed. Felix twirled on the deck, with her arms raised, looking ultimately graceful in that white dress and her bare feet. Her toes barely seemed to touch the planks.  
  
"Isn't it beautiful, Jim?" she asked again, putting her arms down and then hugging herself, her eyes still in a showdown with the stars. I wasn't sure who would win. Everything had seemed to dance with her and stop when she settled. "Have you ever seen anything more beautiful in your life?"  
  
"Yes," I croaked, seemingly afraid of my own voice. Felix's eeys descended to meet mine, and she smiled. Her feet half-ran, half-danced over the deck and brought her into my arms as she hung her own around my neck. She gave a tiny bubble of a laugh as I returned her smile at last. Her hair shone brown, red, and gold as it brushed my hand on her back. Her eyes, her laughing green cat eyes were still filled with the warmth of starlight.  
  
Then she touched her lips to mine, and we kissed.  
  
At once, I was flooded with warmth, and everything seemed to turn and turn around us. I was once told I'd rattle the stars, but with Felix's kiss I felt that we were rattling the etherium and everything in it. We were rising, higher and higher, and I felt the way I had when I'd first tried out a solar surfer - stunned, exhilirated, and wanting more.  
  
My fingers crept into her hair, and my arm tightened around her waist, trying to close any forgotten gaps between us. Then a wave of cold sliced through me, and Felix pulled away.  
  
Clutching my gut, I opened my eyes. The stars were gone, the last of them faint streaks disappearing into the void. The sky was dark. The ship was still flooded by that eerie golden-bronze light, but it was sailing in blackness. I reached for Felix, but she stepped back. Her eyes were dull and cold, and she gave me only a blank stare.  
  
An arm seemed to come out of nowhere and snake around her waist from behind, and a chilling voice said, "Come one, Hawkins. You've had your turn with her. Now it's mine." Leandro sneered. "She's mine," he added, his usual cheery voice now filled with malice.  
  
"No," I cried hoarsely, stepping forward. But I slipped and felt something from Leandro's icy eyes pushing me back. I looked at Felix. She had to help me. It was all wrong. Wrong!  
  
But the smug, icy expression on Leandro's face had crept into hers, and I felt as if I'd freeze to death. "No," I cried, just as their eyes locked onto each other. I shivered. "No, Felix, don't..." I was on my knees, reaching for her, but she seemed so out of my grasp. A shadow seemed to envelope me, and only Felix and Leandro were bathed in that glorious golden light - light that somehow changed to look cold.  
  
She was still fiercely, unbearable beautiful. But a monster.  
  
And they kissed.  
  
Felix's eyes closed, and Leandro's face seemed to shine in triumph. He, too, pulled her closer, and his hands began to roam her back. Felix looked completely willing, and she kissed Leandro with more passion and ardor than she had ever shown me. I couldn't move, I couldn't breathe; I could barely speak.  
  
Then, Felix pulled away to give me one last cold glare as Leandro opened the door of her cabin. He pulled her inside, pulling the rest of the light with her. I was left outside on the deck, shivering in the darkness and the cold.  
  
I think I would have wept then if the ground hadn't been pulled out from under me. Suddenly, I was floating, and the deck began to quickly shring beneath my feet. My blood ran cold as I realized what was happening. The scene, having happened already on another ship a year ago, was all too familiar. "Help!" I cried. "Help me, Felix, please!"  
  
I grabbed at the rigging, the mast, the flag - anything! - but the Interloper was like silk slipping through my fingers, and I was lost, screaming and alone in the void...  
  
=*=  
  
"Hey, not so loud, Jim... Wake up!"  
  
Felix's smiling, beautifully exotic face filled my field of vision as I opened my eyes. Evening starlight streamed in around her from the open door as she bent over my bunk in her night dress. She pressed a finger to her lips, her emerald eyes twinkling with laughter. "Follow me," she whispered.  
  
I sat up, covered in sweat, and buried my head in my hands. I looked up, and she was still standing there, her smiling face framed by dim white light and her thick, dark hair.  
  
"Come on," she hissed, "Leandro's up top. He's got a plan for when the others wake."  
  
I stood up, not answering, and numbly followed her up the stairs onto the deck. It was dark, dimly lit by the lantern of the helmsman above us. The sky was the way it usually was - starry, but not so incredible as...  
  
I looked at Felix. Smiling, she stuck her tongue out at Leandro and tossed me the rope. No trace of the daggers she'd been digging into my heart through her eyes. I could just make out the shape of her lips in the night, and I bit my own.  
  
"Still dreaming, Hawkins?" Leandro asked, gamely slapping me on the back. Felix laughed, and I gave Leandro a feeble grin. He, too, was himself.  
  
I nodded, half-joking, half-serious. "Yeah."  
  
Author's Note: Hey, thanks to treasureplanet-gurl and H2o for the reviews! Thanks for enthusiasm to H2o in particular. I think you should know, though, that I'm a girl. I kind of challenged myself to write in male first-person POV. Am I doing a good job? ':) Haha, thanks again... 


	22. Calm Before the Storm

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 22: Calm Before the Storm  
  
Six days more of that nightmare. Six days more of an exquisite kiss with the most beautiful girl I had ever come to know. Six days more of slashing ice, of betrayal, of darkness... of waking up and realizing that it was a dream. I began to put off going to sleep on the third night, but somehow it would still happen. Twice I took over at the helm to stay awake - the Captain threatened to throw me in the brig if I fell asleep a third time. Instead I stayed in the crow's nest with Baewong, who nimbly perched on the edge of the tub-like nook while I slumped in the corner, his chatter lulling me to sleep in the end. I woke up that morning covered in sweat and a ratty old blanket of that spacer's.  
  
By then, the entire crew had figured out that I had nightmares, but I wouldn't tell anyone, not even Ranga. I sure as hell couldn't tell Felix or Leandro, and I was sincerely afraid that the Captain would laugh. So I prayed fervently for those dreams to go away, in order to come off as normal again.  
  
Don't get me wrong, the crew still talked and joked with me. But I couldn't hang out with Felix without spacing out and thinking back to that kiss. It had been almost real, and every night it felt even more so... The night before Leandro and I talked, I had felt not just warmth, cold, and pain, but already the soft cotton folds of her dress between my fingers. I could already feel the tips of ther fingers lingering on the back of my neck. I could taste her, and her scent invaded every part of me...  
  
That night, the look she had given me seemed colder and more painful. Contemptuous, scornful, sneering, mean, but still beautiful, the new Felix would then turn and betray me, to Leandro's obvious delight.  
  
No, I couldn't spend daylight with Felix without retreating into the darkness the dream had shown me. It seemed better to leave her to pranking with Leandro. He seemed to be making her smile, anyway. I didn't even bother trying to talk to him.  
  
But he caught up with me in the rigging on the seventh day, when I'd been repairing one of the Interloper's hunting nets. We were going to run out of food soon, and Captain Peter had decided to take the nets out. It wasn't just Doppler's Orcus galacticus roaming the heavens with us. I just had no idea that soon, none of us would need those nets...  
  
"What's up with you, Hawkins?" came Leandro's voice from below me. I ignored the question but had made no move to shift position. Leandro took it as an open invitation to sit nearby and help with the net. "We can't ignore it, Hawkins," he continued, deftly mending the tears at his end. "We infected or something?" I shook my head, still trying to pretend I didn't care anymore. Leandro sighed. "It's those dreams, isn't it?"  
  
When I still didn't answer, he pressed, "Why don't you just tell me about them? Or tell us?" This time, I sighed, but I still didn't answer. Leandro was silent, and I went on with the net.  
  
"They're about Felix, aren't they?" he blurted out. I didn't say anything, but he must have noticed how I tensed. He slapped the mast. "Damn that girl, she's at it again!" he said suddenly.  
  
At last, I looked up. "Excuse me?"  
  
Leandro didn't answer. Instead, he looked down toward the stern where Felix sat, cradling Lakan while talking to Dalaga. I saw the corner of his mouth twitch in a fond, goofy smile. "Look at that," he said softly. "Would you look at that..." Even from far away, Felix's effect on the baby and her effect on me could still be felt. Apparently, Leandro felt it, too... He took a pencil and a small notepad out of his pocket and began a sketch with sharp strokes.  
  
"That, my friend, is a pretty picture," he said matter-of-factly. He waved at Felix. She didn't notice, but the rest of the crew cheered and waved back.  
  
This time, I had to laugh. "I take it the entire Interloper knows and Felix doesn't."  
  
Leandro nodded. "I think I fell in love with her when she cracked my ribs in her dad's self-defense class," he added, laughing, too. "But she's clueless..." Then he looked at me and glanced at her before continuing. "She sure isn't clueless about you, though."  
  
We were uncomfortably silent after that. I went back to repairing the net, and Leandro bent down over his sketch. Aside from his scratching on the paper, I could hear the faint raucous laughter of the Captain and the crew... How much did Felix tell him?  
  
"How does it feel," I asked at last, thinking aloud, "to have a rival aboard the ship?"  
  
He scrunched up his nose and stared some more at Felix and Lakan. Somehow, there was something more than a few days in detention that we shared now... He sighed. "It sucks, man. I'm her best friend, next to Peter. We're like this," he said, holding up two crossed fingers. Then he slapped his knee. "You come along for the summer, and BAM! You lucky dog," he moaned, bowing his head. "You've kissed her. I haven't."  
  
I raised an eyebrow. "My dreams say otherwise." Then I blinked. It was out of my mouth before I could think.  
  
He raised an eyebrow, too, and he gave me an eerily familiar smug look. "Your dreams?" He put one dangling foot up next to him and faced me, still grinning. He twirled his pencil around his nimble fingers. "Just what is it about your dreams that you won't share, Hawkins?"  
  
I was feeling better now, and I gamely shook my head. "It's better that you didn't know, Andro. But you're in it, if that helps..."  
  
"Oh, really... What am I doing?"  
  
I firmly pushed the image out of my mind. "Something... something we both dream of, Andro."  
  
He gave me a funny, puzzled look, and then he looked back at the stern. Felix was gone. He sighed and tossed me his part of the net and then dangled upside down. "You know, Hawkins, I believe that at the end of this voyage, the better man will win that beautiful girl."  
  
"Izzat so?" I asked, truly smiling for the first time in a week. It felt good to be with a friend again, even if we were both after the same girl.  
  
He grinned back. "You'll see. You'll see..."  
  
==  
  
That night, I couldn't sleep. I was wide awake, and no matter how I tossed and turned, rest wouldn't come. For some reason, whenever I tried to think about the dream, it slipped from my grasp, as if it no longer belonged to me. I didn't know whether to be relieved or troubled - I felt a strange mixture of both.  
  
I sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. Maybe a little walk up top would get me tired. I looked all around, but all the crew was asleep - even Leandro. He looked peaceful and content, and his sleep was deep. Lucky nut.  
  
I silently pulled on my nearest pair of boots and then slowly walked up the steps to the deck. I half expected the ship to be bathed in that golden light and to find Felix smiling there, waiting for me beneath a silver-studded sky. But the light was dim and pale blue, as usual, and I was alone. Or so I thought.  
  
"Can't sleep?"  
  
I looked up, and the Captain smiled down at me from the helm. He gave me a small, casual salute, which I returned. He sighed and leaned forward on the helm, watching the horizon. "I have to get used to this father business," he said with a laugh. "I know babies wake up when their stomachs please, but I never really thought before that I'd experience it firsthand." He smiled. "But Lakan's worth the trouble, you know?"  
  
I nodded politely. When Captain Peter had been my age, he probably had no plan of having kids. But looking at him now, I wondered how far off family life would be for me. What would my own son be like? Who would my wife be? And at that thought, Felix's smile passed through my mind, and I shook it off. That wasn't going to happen anytime soon.  
  
"So I'm awake because of my son," the Captain began again. "What about you, Hawkins? Those nightmares still jerkin' at ya?"  
  
I smiled feebly and shook my head, and I wearily climbed up to the helm where he stood. I felt tired out here, but for some reason I knew that back in the bunk, I'd still be restless. "I don't think they'll be coming back, Captain. But thanks for asking." He nodded, distracted, and still watching the skies. We watched them together, he buried in his thoughts and I in mine...  
  
"I wonder," he said softly after a while, "what my father would think of me today..." He smiled and turned to me. "You close to your father, Jim?" I couldn't help snorting as I shook my head, and he raised his eyebrows. Like Felix had said, his hair and eyes were slowly paling and turning blue. But the shade the Captain had was of a silvery quality, not bright and stark like Leandro's.  
  
"My father was my best friend," he continued. The last thing I wanted to talk about now was fathers, but I stayed. "He was to me and Felix exactly what we needed. Taught me everything I know, my dad." I could say that about Silver, but not about MY father. But I stayed.  
  
"I wonder what he'd think of Lakan," he said, thinking aloud. "Big, strong boy, just like his daddy, that's what the crew says of him. They used to say that of me." I leaned on the railing and put my chin on my arm, half-listening, half-thinking of my mother back home. It was the first time in a while that I'd thought of her...  
  
"You know something, Hawkins?" I looked at him then, waiting for him to continue. There was a strong breeze, and the Captain took off his hat and placed it on the helm spoke in front of him. He looked proud and happy then, behind the helm of his ship and sailing in search of a new life... "I want to be just like my dad," he said.  
  
He snorted and looked down. "Man, I feel like a kid saying this, and I don't know why I'm saying it to you, but it's true. I want to be just like my dad..." He looked back at the stars ahead, and so did I. "He told me once, on a night like this... 'I love my family, I love my crew, and I love my ship. And it all loves me back. What more could a man ask for?' I think... I think I know now how he felt that night, Hawkins. Hell, I'm on the run from the law. But it's nothing compared to what I have now. I think, Hawkins, that I'm the luckiest man in the world..."  
  
He grinned foolishly. "Go back to bed, Hawkins, I'm wearing you out, here with my ramblings. Get some sleep."  
  
I nodded, but I smiled back. At that moment, Captain Peter Stefan Helikos did look like the luckiest man in the world, because he felt it and it showed right through his skin and his eyes. I never thought I'd never see him like that again.  
  
"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the sky. 


	23. Strike

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 23: Strike  
  
A thin red line was snaking across the sky, and it caught our attention. The stars were suddenly few, and a tension hung ominously in the air. "Oh, no," the Captain said softly. It was the first time I'd ever heard real fear in his voice. And I knew why. I knew because I'd read about it in books. But the Captain knew from experience.  
  
"Wake the crew," he said quietly.  
  
But before I could take a step toward the hatchway, there was a CRASH, and I was thrown half overboard. The ship rocked, and the Captain slid, letting go of the helm. The wheel spun crazily as he cried out and grabbed my hand. The ship rocked back, and we tumbled back on deck. The sky was red with streaks of light as fireballs crossed my sight. They were twice as big and twice as deadly - meteors.  
  
Already, the crew was scrambling on deck to see what the commotion was as rock after space rock slammed into our sides. They punched holes in the sails and knocked down the masts, and soon we were swept into the storm. The Interloper became a toy in the hands of a very destructive child.  
  
There was damage and chaos from stem to stern, and the crew was tossed this way and that. I was lost, I didn't know what to do. As comrades fell right and left, I crashed into people and objects I no longer recognized - only one was important to me at that horrible moment. "Felix!"  
  
And amidst the terrified screams and the thunderous collisions, I barely heard the answer: "Jim!"  
  
And there she was, barefoot in her white dress, bathed not in magnificent golden light but a freakish red haze. The clearest part of her was her pair of horror-stricken eyes, and they were ablaze like the fireballs in the sky. Somehow I got my arms around her, and I couldn't tell the difference between our trembling and the constant shudder of the Interloper.  
  
She stuck her hand out and into the mess and grasped Leandro's wrist. I barely had the time to see our expressions mirrored in his face before he cried out, "Where is Peter?"  
  
I looked back up at the helm, where Captain Helikos was hanging for dear life onto the now useless wheel. He attempted to straighten up, and he cupped his hands to his mouth. "All hands to the longboat bay!" came his bellow over the roar. "ABANDON SHIP!"  
  
"Ah!" Leandro cried. HE grimaced in pain, and I saw that a piece of rock had struck him in the leg. He started to fall, but Felix and I caught him before he could be trampled by the others. "Well, that's it," he gasped feebly, trying to smile, "no more mast jumping for me!"  
  
I would have liked to stop and marvel at his ability to joke at a time like this, but there was none for it. "Quick," Felix said, hoisting Leandro's arm around her shoulders. I did the same, and we supported him between us. "Let's get below!"  
  
It was a sort of battle - us against the hurling ship, against the meteors. I looked away every time a friend was struck down and lost, but they couldn't look away for long. Somehow we made it to the bay, and to the Captain. His pale eyes were afire, and he roared, herding his remaining crew into the four good longboats.  
  
"Take over for me!" he cried when he saw Felix.  
  
She thrust Leandro into one of the longboats, to his chagrin, and turned to her brother, the Captain. "Peter, we - "  
  
"Felix, don't argue with me," he roared, afraid but still fierce. "I have to save Dalaga, and Lakan!"  
  
Her breath caught, but her features firmed as she nodded. The Captain disappeared, and his First Mate took over.  
  
"Luygef, you and Baewong man the first one," she barked, pointing to the boat with the injured Leandro. "As soon as it's full, push off, you hear?"  
  
Then she turned to me, her fear masked, her fury released. "Jim, open the hatch, and make way!"  
  
Immediately I set to work. The ship lurched to the side, and one of the longboats swung and shattered against the wall of the bay. Felix swore, just as the cabin boy tumbled in and fell at her feet.  
  
"Sylik!" she exclaimed. She helped him to his feet and asked, "Who's left? Who's left, and where is Peter?"  
  
Sylik gasped. "He's coming out with Ms. Dalaga and Lakan." As he spoke, battered, wounded crewmen came in random bursts of one or two and hurried to Baewong's longboat. This first longboat took off. "There's no one left but you and me and Hawkins," he added... I was once a cabin boy fearing for my life, and I knew how Sylik felt. He trembled and grasped at the ropes, planks - anything that wasn't broken, and he shook like a leaf on a purp tree in autumn.  
  
"Get into the boat, Sylik," said I.  
  
Just as he clambered in, I heard a baby cry. Captain Peter hurried Dalaga to us, and Felix hurried mother and child into the boat next to Sylik. I climbed in after them and helped Felix in. Lakan howled helplessly, his nails digging into his mother's clothes, like a frightened cat's. Sylik looked like he could do the same. "Hurry, Peter," Dalaga cried.  
  
Captain Peter was already hacking with a broken cutlass at the knots securing our lifeboat. He paused, looking at me. "Can you pilot?" he asked simply. The meteor barrage seemed to pick up.  
  
"What?" Felix asked.  
  
But the Captain ignored her, and asked me again. "Can you pilot, Jim?"  
  
I nodded numbly and moved toward the controls, but Felix barred me. Another sickening crunch was heard elsewhere on the Interloper. "What are you talking about, Peter?" she cried. "You're piloting, not Jim!"  
  
He shook his head. "Ranga's still in there," he answered. "You go ahead, and I'll meet you at..." I could almost feel Felix's heart sinking as her brother gave coordinates. We were all incredulous, her most of all.  
  
"No, Peter, you can't do this!" she stood in the longboat, fists clenched, her arms struggling out of my grasp.  
  
"I have to!" he answered, cutlass raised over the last bolt.  
  
"But we need you!"  
  
"You'll be fine without me, so go!"  
  
"Peter, you - "  
  
"I'm not leaving a man behind, Felix!" he bellowed. "Jim, take the controls, now!"  
  
"Peter - "  
  
"We'll take the last longboat, so go. That's an order."  
  
In that moment, I watched in awe as pain, anger, and defiance burned in Felix's eyes, trading blows with her brother's worry and determination. The blaze engulfing this little family was greater than any damage the fireballs outside could do...  
  
There was a crash, and I took the controls. The Captain brought the cutlass down, smashing the bolt and throwing us into space. Felix still stood like stone, keeping eye contact with her brother for as long as possible. When I looked back at the hatchway, he was gone.  
  
"Let's go back," she said, grabbing at my hand. She was trying to take over.  
  
"Felix, no!" I pushed her away, trying not to let the control slip out of my hand.  
  
"We have to go back!" she cried, looking me full in the face. Her eyes burned with rage and tears as she fought me. "We have to go back!"  
  
A rock whizzed past, within a hair's breadth of our boat. I had to concentrate on maneuvering us out of danger, but Felix wasn't making it easy. She was hysterical - she was frantic to go back, right into the thick of the mess, to save her brother.  
  
"Peter said he isn't leaving a man behind, Jim, and I can't do the same! Please!"  
  
I didn't know what to say, but I swung the boat round to miss another meteor. We hurtled sideways, and Lakan wailed and shrieked in terror. We could see the Interloper in the distance, under attack.  
  
"Jim, please!" she pleaded. She had winded down, and now she was a crumpled heap beside me, her body racked with sobs. She lifted her head to look at the Interloper, and then her mouth dropped open in alarm.  
  
Her scream seemed to drown us all as a meteor the size of a small planet hurtled into the Interloper, destroying it completely. 


	24. Lost

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 24: Lost  
  
Sylik grabbed her before she could leap off the boat, and Felix kicked, scratched, and fought, sobbing hysterically. But I nodded at Sylik, and he held her tight, bearing the bruises with a grimace until she settled down.  
  
I slowed the longboat when we were out of the meteors' way, and we couldn't help looking back at the damage. The meteor storm had abated, but the Interloper was still in ruins. We could see no sign of lige among the debris, and Felix sobbed.  
  
Dalaga handed Lakan over to Sylik, who also tried to shush his whimperings. Dalaga pulled Felix close, and I watched them cry; Felix mewling and whimpering like a child, and Dalaga silent, letting her tears spill down her cheeks like crystals. I looked away, and the longboat was silent except for the quiet whir of the engine.  
  
==  
  
Felix went to sleep, still clinging to Dalaga, and she looked much younger and more fragile. Sylik was also dozing now, but Dalaga stayed awake, rocking Lakan. I needed relief, but I was the only able pilot for the moment, so I concentrated on finding the others. I prayed that Baewong, Luygef, and Leandro had survived the escape. I also wished that Felix would have a sweet dream...  
  
"I knew it," Dalaga said softly, breaking the silence. I looked at her, golden hair fluttering in the mild breeze, eyes lost in space, her heart and mind sailing off to join her love elsewhere... "I knew it," she said again. "The moment he died, I knew it, and Felix knew it. Even Lakan - knew that his father was dead."  
  
Dead. I marveled at her courage to say it. Dead was so final a word for a man whose exuberance and spirit could go on for ages. I looked at Dalaga, her profile stark in the blackness of space, and I saw why Peter, Captain Peter, must have fallen in love with her. Her expression was hard with courage, but her eyes were soft and dark with passion. From the beginning, she knew that as a spacer, Peter couldn't be with her all the time, but she had a determination to sail on, no matter how big the problems... or the tragedies.  
  
I looked at the baby in her arms, Lakan. He looked just like Peter, with his dark hair, and the cheekbones just barely seen beneath the baby fat... Felix, me, and now Lakan - we were all fatherless children. But Felix had seen him alive and loved her father. I knew mine and cursed him. But Lakan would never know his father's face except in the mirror, and even then, Peter would be a mystery to him...  
  
I'd asked Sylik to check the small supplies cupboard earlier. There was some water, purp juice, and rum, and also some canned milk. There was a relatively good supply of hardtack, and some dried fruits and nuts. I said relatively, because I didn't know how long we'd be in space. I knew that this sector was uninhabited, so I had no idea when we'd find harbor again. And even then, the Interloper's crew was on the run. All the major ports would be notified of their escape, and that meant that I couldn't bring them home to the Benbow after all... my name was on the list, too.  
  
==  
  
"Jim, are you awake?" came the call from far away. I blinked and awoke, and I saw Felix sitting at the controls. She smiled sadly, and her green eyes were dimmed by fatigue, pain, or both. I noticed a stained bandage around her left upper arm and that her dress was torn at the hem.  
  
"What happened?" I asked.  
  
She shrugged, not bothering with a fake smile. "Just a scratch. I brushed against part of the machine while moving you."  
  
"Can I see it?"  
  
"No."  
  
I'd been moving closer, but I stopped. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Jim, it's just - just - " and her voice trailied off. She bit her lip, and tears sprang into her eyes. She looked out, into space...  
  
I remembered, then, how my mother and I had felt when my father walked out on us. I remembered the sinking feelings as we had waited and waited, trying to stay up just a moment longer, to see his ship coming home. And every time we'd known - deep down, we'd known: he would never come back. He was lost, and so were we.  
  
I looked at Felix new, biting her lip till it bled, fighting back those tears. So quickly, she had lost the man she loved the most - a man who, with her father, helped raise her, teach her, and train her... for a position she hadn't expected to fill so soon. It was love, more than blood, that bound Felix to Peter, and I doubted its ferocity would be dimmed any.  
  
"You know something, Jim?" she said. I looked up and watched her emotions fighting inside her. She gave a weak smile, her eyes wet. "If I wasn't piloting this boat, I'd ask you for a hug, because - because right now I really need one!"  
  
At that I moved as close to her as I could and impulsively took her free hand. Our fingers intertwined, and she grasped them tightly. Her smile seemed to show a bit of comfort at last...  
  
After a while, she seemed more collected, and Felix let go.  
  
"Can you check our coordinates, Jim?" she asked promptly. "We should be nearing the rendezvous point."  
  
I reached past Sylik and Dalaga for the small supplies cupboard and rummaged inside for a cold, metal tube. I unscrewed the cap, and a rolled-up, faded, and tattered chart spilled out. Using the light off the sail to see, I redirected Felix to a small moon off Rock 9687.  
  
There, we heard cheers as a small speck grew larger and larger. Hats, hands, and tentacles waved, and Felix gave a small burst of a laugh as we were joyously welcomed. I took over the controls again, and Felix stood up as the others awoke and we pulled up alongside the other longboat.  
  
Luygef stood and leaned, causing his boat to tilt dangerously, to the others' fright and perhaps slight thrill. He reached over and picked Felix up, giving her such a squeeze that she had to slam at his arms for him to let go.  
  
Leandro grinned at her from where he sat, his leg in a makeshift splint. "What took you so long?"  
  
Luygef wiped away a gigantic tear and blew his nose on the nearest rag - Baewong's jacket ("Thanks, matey, I needed that!"). "I never thought we'd see any of you people again." Felix just grinned. He looked at us in the boat and then frowned. "Where is the Captain?"  
  
Felix tensed, and we were silent, waiting for her answer. She took a deep breath and looked at her comrades in the other longboat, knowing that all eyes were on her. "I am the Captain," she said quietly.  
  
There were cries of "What?" and "How?" and "Why?", but she silenced them all with a wave of her arms. I wondered if she was going to cry, especially when her voice quivered, but she held strong.  
  
"When the Captain is... indisposed, the First Mate becomes the new Captain... Right boys?"  
  
Silently, the shocked remaining crew of the Interloper pulled off their caps and scarves and placed them over their chests. Felix nodded.  
  
"Now," she said, "I'll understand if you don't want to stick around, because I'll never be the Captain that Peter was, so - "  
  
"Nonsense, Captain," Leandro said, grinning. He took the controls of the longboat. "Peter made you First Mate for a reason. Now, where to?"  
  
She smiled at him, and at the crew. We gave her a salute and brave smiles, and I handed her the charts.  
  
Author's Note: I'm not really used to making review replies, so I'll just say thanks to treasureplanet-gurl for sticking around. :) Hope you like where this will go... 


	25. Long Shadows

Author's Note: I've spent the past month moving to college, and I got my connection up just now. Sorry for the wait.  
  
No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 25: Long Shadows  
  
At the end of my dreams, and in the silence, it was their whispers that woke me. I found that once again, I'd been moved away from the controls, and Felix - Captain Felix - had taken over. So had Leandro.  
  
"So," he asked, "what's Wendholme like?"  
  
He was sitting as close to her as possible. Even with her hands full at the controls and his injured leg, he somehow sat close enough for their heads to be inches apart... What bothered me was that the look in his eyes was not lewd and sinister, but almost innocent and shy. He had no hidden agenda whatsoever.  
  
Her eyes brightened, and she smiled. "I haven't been there in years. But when I last saw it, it was wild all over. Like a desert island, only a whole planet. Jungle everywhere, and mountains, beaches, and lagoons... It's beautiful." The look that came over her face was of pure rapture, as if the place she described was paradise, and she couldn't wait to get there. She was a wonder to behold in the elegance that happiness and starlight cast across her face. I noticed, though, that I was not the only one who had to catch my breath.  
  
Leandro smiled, too. I tried not to react; I was supposed to be asleep. Yes, I was happy that Felix had begun to smile, but I still didn't like the idea of Leandro sitting so close to her. After all, I had done the same thing just moments before.  
  
"It sure sounds beautiful," Leandro answered. She raised her eyebrows and smiled at him, and he laughed. Again, something had passed between them, and I hadn't caught it - something unspoken but understood. Leandro lowered his voice and moved his mouth closer to her ear. He whispered for a while, and then they laughed softly together.  
  
He sighed and leaned against the side of the boat. This placed some distance between him and Felix, but he still kept his eyes on her. "I bet when we get there, you'll get a royal welcome. The one you've always deserved," he said afterward. "You're not a pirate. You're a princess."  
  
She turned to face him then, and even in the darkness, I could tell that she was giving him her intense, curious, searching gaze, and her intriguing feline smile. My heart sank, and while I wanted to close my eyes, I kept them in a squint to see what was happening.  
  
Leandro gently reached across her lap and pushed her hand off the control, setting it on autopilot. She blinked, surprised, as he placed his hand on her arm and began to pull her closer. Her eyes widened, and she blinked in a nervous, silent panic, but I saw his thumb brush against her arm, relaxing her. She seemed to tremble, but Leandro didn't mind. He smiled, and then began to bring them together...  
  
The soft whistle from the other boat startled us all before their lips touched, and Felix turned, alert. She stood up and moved to the center of the boat, leaving Leandro at the controls. She looked down at me then, and saw me awake. She blinked in surprise. "I - I didn't know you were awake."  
  
I didn't answer, though, because the other longboat pulled up beside us, and Baewong was waving a ratty piece of paper. I recognized the chart right away, and Felix asked him what was wrong.  
  
"We're approaching Hicxon's Cove, Captain!" he shouted.  
  
Felix's eyes widened a moment. Then they steeled, looking cold. "What?"  
  
Baewong nimbly leapt into our boat, waking Dalaga and a few more crewmen upon landing, and then showed Felix the map. He held up a lamp.  
  
"This's an old map of your father's, Captain, from - from his old days. There's a dangerous asteroid belt up ahead, but there be a pass narrow enough to get through without a scratch. Only problem is, Captain, that the pass is ambushed from this crescent here, Hicxon's Cove. It orbits with the belt, Captain."  
  
Felix frowned, and her brows furrowed. "Is there a way through without having to pass the crescent?"  
  
Baewong shook his head. "Only if you want a way to our deaths, Captain."  
  
She bit her lip and nodded slowly, thoughtfully. She studied the chart, searching the sector for another way to Wendholme. But Baewong was right. To go around the belt would use up all our supplies, making the effort futile. The pass was the only way.  
  
"We can't take an ambush from Hicxon," she said. The only way we'd get through would be to ambush them."  
  
Someone snorted, but when Felix turned with a questioning glance and an eyebrow raised, her crew fidgeted in their seats. "What?" she asked. "You don't think we can do it?" Suddenly, the image of Captain Amelia passed through my mind.  
  
We were all afraid to answer. She must have been driven crazy, we all must have thought. I know I did. Ambush a shipload of pirates? There were only ten or twelve of us there, not including Dalaga, Lakan, or Leandro, who couldn't fight. Felix had to be crazy.  
  
But she rolled her eyes and sighed, and she crossed to the stern and rummaged around in the little supply cabinet. Finally, she pulled out an old copper-colored box wrapped in an old navy cloth, and when she opened it, we saw seven long, copper-colored tubes. Each gleamed from the light of the solar sail, and Felix nimbly picked one up and twirled it in her fingers.  
  
"My father and Ranga made these," she said, holding it up and raising her voice, just a bit. You'll see that one end is closed and the other is open. Before I can continue, though, I'll need all you light feet to come forward." Then, as an afterthought, she said, "Sylik, too."  
  
Sylik's eyes widened in surprise, and he watched Felix warily as she motioned for him to come closer. Then in one, swift move, she put his arms behind his back, jammed the open end of the tube in his neck, and pushed in the closed end. Sylik blinked rapidly, dazedly, and then he fell to the floor. Those of us in his boat had to move back in surprise, causing it to rock a bit. There was an uproar.  
  
"Oh, will you all shut it?!" Felix yelled at last, when Luygef threatened to tip his longboat over by reaching for her neck. "I didn't kill him! He's just asleep." We were silenced, and we looked at Sylik. Sure enough, his chest rose and fell quietly, even though he was as cold as stone.  
  
Felix tossed Baewong the tube, and he examined it. Before anyone asked, she answered, "I told you, my father and Ranga made these. They're filled with a toxin the people on Wendholme use when hunting. They're usually used in darts, and they're usually deadly."  
  
A few of us couldn't help but look at Sylik again.  
  
"I said usually," she muttered. "These ones are like syringes, so you have to shoot them directly. And instead of toxin, my father put in a very powerful sleeping potion." She glanced at Sylik, who lay at her feet. "I know it sounds dramatic, strange, and impossible, but it's true. Here's your proof before you."  
  
"Now pay attention. Pe - Peter once told me that Hicxon must have at least three or four dozen men. What we need to do is even the odds." She gave Luygef a wink, and he answered with a rumbling laugh. "Like I said, I'd like six of you light-footed men to come with me - preferably those who know where the major arteries are, Engot, so you can't come." In the back of Luygef's longboat, a spindly-legged creature scratched its head sheepishly with its toes and gave what looked like a grin.  
  
"We'll dip low, out of sight of the crow's nest. We'll board the ship from the hull." She turned to me then. "Jim, I want you and Bugoi to take over the helm and engine room. Baewong, as usual, will go to the crow's nest. I'd take you, Luygef, but you're too heavy, so we'll have to go with..." And she picked out four more crewmen, handing each one a tube. I thoughtfully ran a finger over the metal instrument, and Bugoi whispered the location of several arteries into my ear.  
  
"Gentlemen," Felix said sharply, "I want you to move silently. We'll be quieter than shadows... You and Leandro will pilot, Luygef, and stand guard. Get us as close to the ship as possible and undetected."  
  
"Aye, Captain," the two chorused.  
  
Felix nodded and then turned to each of us. "Leave Hicxon for me." 


	26. Drom Beat

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 26: Drom Beat  
  
In the moments before we approached Hicxon's Cove, I tried to find something to say to Felix, or at least to hold her gaze again. But she knelt at the prow of our longboat, distracted. I glanced furtively at Leandro, and he, too was watching her thoughtfully.  
  
We were both afraid for her; we both cared too much for her. Her plan was half-crazy, and neither of us wanted to see her get hurt. Just imagining a cutlass pressed against her smooth, gorgeous throat was enough to choke up our own.  
  
"This can't be happening, Hawkins," Leandro whispered. "We are too young and beautiful to die. Her especially." His smile was wry, his statement only half a joke. He was right. After seeing what she could do, I found it hard to underestimate Felix's courage and skill. But knowing her reaction to Hicxon when she first saw him, and with Peter's sudden death, we wondered how vulnerable she actually was...  
  
Before long, a crescent of rock appeared in sight, and to either side an asteroid belt as packed as Baewong said it would be. Soon, Leandro and Luygef dipped us low, before we were within sight of the ship's lookouts. Asteroids turned and hovered around us, some of them passing within arm's length. Then, the huge pirate ship loomed above us. I caught the immense letters carved beside the figurehead, filled with black paint: The Drombeat.  
  
I felt as if I had been shaken, as if I'd indeed heard an ominous pounding in the back of my mind. I looked at Felix. Her steely gaze had faltered, and she was Felix the uncertain girl-Captain again.  
  
"Felix," I said. "Captain. We can slip past them; we're beneath the boat; surely we can sail even lower and escape the cove." But she seemed resigned to carrying this out, and my heart sank as she gave the signal.  
  
We heard a brief skittering and then silence as Baewong and the others scrambled up the side, digging their tiny claws into the side of the ship, without making a sound. In moments, we heard muffled cries, and then two lengths of rope were rolled down the sides. Before I could look at her, Felix was already halfway up, still in her night dress.  
  
I crawled onto the deck and saw just how quickly Baewong and his friends worked; the man in the crow's nest, the guard at Hicxon's cabin door, the helmsman, and two other lookouts were down. One of our shadowy figures was carrying the crow down the rigging. We stood silent, poised on the edge of what we were about to plunge into. Then Bugoi tapped me on the shoulder, and I made for the helm while he went down to the engine room. Another stifled cry, another body lifted out, and we had control of the ship.  
  
Almost. In the darkness, there was only one thing I could fully see, and that was the wisp that was Felix, in her white dress, sneaking up the stairs to the cabin.  
  
Afterward I would imagine how she felt, stealing into the room and closing the door behind her. Did she hesitate, and stand in doubt? Or did she move forward quickly, deliberately, and stab Hicxon without losing another moment? Was she angry, was she frightened? Was she both?  
  
The lamps went on in the cabin, and we on the deck could make out her silhouette, standing still, looking down. She brought her hand to her face, as if to brush a hair - a tear? - out of the way. Then she opened the door, and one of the crew flipped the switch, flooding the deck with light; the signal for Luygef and our remaining men to board.  
  
Luygef carried Sylik onboard and propped him up against a barrel. Baewong gingerly took Lakan out of Dalaga's hands and carried him up to the crow's nest, with Dalaga following up the rigging. The little boy slept fitfully, as if he, too, could also sense the tension that kept us all awake. Luygef, meanwhile, went into the cabin and reemerged, carrying Hicxon's body the same way Baewong had Lakan's.  
  
"Put him with the others," Felix said quietly. "He'll be out cold for at least twelve hours. By then, we'll be well on our way to Wendholme." She turned to me and gave a relieved yet childish smile, as if to ask ME if everything had been done properly. "Set our course, Jim," she said.  
  
I pulled the levers, bringing the Drombeat to life. As it shuddered awake, I was afraid that Hicxon would do the same. I knew that the remaining pirate crew, asleep below, might emerge in any moment. But I couldn't help pushing my fear aside as Felix leaped onto the railing and balanced, arms raised, smiling at her crew. We all cheered silently inside, to ourselves, but for her. To this day, I think she heard it.  
  
==  
  
While the pirate crew slept, we disarmed as many of them as we could. Meanwhile, Felix searched for clothes, and in a while she emerged from below in a cabin boy's breeches and shirt cut short, her hair pulled back from her face by ties fashioned out of cloth scraps.  
  
When Hicxon awoke, we were all ready; Felix most of all. The moment he groaned and shuddered to his senses, she had the tip of a sword at his mangy throat. He chopped and smacked his lips and looked around at us rather stupidly. When his vision cleared and he recognized Felix at last, though, he started, and we all pulled our swords out.  
  
His eyes glanced shiftily from blade to blade, and then he gave Felix a menacing grin. "Aye, luv, aren't ye supposed to be in some Royal flagship's brig with your brother?"  
  
I gulped. That was the wrong thing to say. Her green eyes flashed, and she pressed her blade tip closer to him.  
  
"I thought I'd pick you up first; they say it's awful lonely in there."  
  
Hicxon's eyes shifted again as he searched for a way out. There was none. His hands struggled with the knots at his back, but I'd tied them myself, and there was no escaping now. "Aw, ain't that nice of ye to miss an old spacer like meself... And where is your captain?"  
  
Again, the wrong thing to say.  
  
"I am the Captain," Felix said, clearly and firmly. Her eyes were ablaze with fury, and they were directed on her foe.  
  
Hicxon blinked. "Lost him to the kawals, did ye?" He found he could not look at her for more than a few seconds; he had to look away, at our swords, at us, at the skies...  
  
Felix was silent. "The kawals lost to Peter," she answered quietly.  
  
"But you, missy, are the Captain now." Hicxon said, his rasping voice harsh and taunting. "Did he jump ship, just like your daddy?"  
  
Oh, no.  
  
"My father did not jump ship!" Felix cried. The tears had sprung into her eyes. She had drewn her sword back, but now she put it closer to the pirate's throat. Her outburst had awoken some of Hicxon's men, but they stopped struggling when they saw us.  
  
"He knew he was in trouble, so he left you and your vices. He was no coward; he died fighting, fighting scum like you!" As she pressed her blade into his throat, she drew blood, but just a trickle. Hicxon didn't wince. "And my brother - ! My brother, unlike you, was honorable! My brother went down with his ship!"  
  
"But he wouldn't let you go down with him, would he, luv..." Hicxon said quietly. He still smiled evilly, and if his hands were free, he might have clapped them. "He went down with his ship, and left you to filch me own. Ain't that piracy too, Captain Helikos?" he asked, spitting out the name.  
  
Her blade threatened to plunge deeper, but she kept just the tip inside. Hicxon's muddy red blood flowed. "You and your ways, and your lies took our lives from us. Why can't I take your life, and your ship?" she asked angrily. Her tears flowed freely now, and she had ample opportunity to run the pirate captain through. None of us moved to stop her.  
  
"Because your daddy and your big brother wouldn't want Baby Felixa to be killin', now would they, luv?" he said, drawing out the word "baby". "I would know, because they're both so honorable, and noble," he added, mockingly emphasizing the character traits, "that one of them left a perfectly good life for the other."  
  
Now Hicxon was bitter and angry. "Drom and Stefan to the end, he said. Nothing in our way, no gold too far away, no women to make us stay... And then that blasted planet. Wendholme-is-it? And Dafne. Green-eyed, gorgeous Dafne. The sight of ye makes me blood boil, girly. Because it was those eyes that reeled us in, but only your daddy got hooked."  
  
Felix stood still, stunned. "He married her, and took her aboard. Immediate-like, your daddy went soft. And then you brats came, so he left, taking some of me best men with him." He looked icily at Luygef, Baewong, and the rest of the crew.  
  
He turned back to Felix, and it was a battle between his cold, fearless steel eyes and her blazing, passionate green ones. "Ye got ten men, but no more daddy or big brother to keep ye safe. Ye ain't needed nowhere, and your name ain't gonna live on forever. What do ye got to prove, luv, by taking over my ship?"  
  
She knelt, not letting the blade slip for a moment, and leaned forward to hiss into his ear: "The fact that I can."  
  
Author's Note: I've reached Chapters 25 and 26 (when I'd only planned on 10). Should I switch to using HTML? 


	27. Princess's Court

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 27: Princess's Court  
  
Felix then turned around to face the other men, who, as they'd emerged from below, had been attacked and tied up before they could ask, "What's for breakfast, cookie?".  
  
She was simply dressed, but the more I watched, the more she seemed to exude an aura of authority and determination. The role of Captain fit her well. "Gentlemen," she said, back straight, hands on her hips, "your ship, the Drombeat, has been commandeered.  
  
And, to our surprise, some of them cheered.  
  
==  
  
"Been wanting to mutiny for years," Arancon said, taking a large gulp of ale and slapping Felix on the back. "No good ringing khavdeh, that Hicxon was." Whatever a khavdeh was, we sort of understoood. The four of us - Leandro, Felix, Arancon, and myself, were at the edge of the deck, leaning against the railing. Purp juice for us, and ale for Arancon and his comrades.  
  
He looked human, and was tall and muscular - he wore only a vest and low-cut trousers, to show off his torso. But he had a long black horsetail and hooves for his two feet, shod with gold. His eyes were gold, too, and his smile flashed white teeth. "Funny it took a little girl to save us all," he said, laughing. She didn't look angry at all at his statement, and in fact, she laughed, too. It was good to see her smiling.  
  
Once we'd found the cause of the cheering earlier, we'd untied our new allies and thus enlarged our crew. Arancon had helped us lock Hicxon and the others up, and he'd posted what he guaranteed were the hardiest men he knew. Just to be sure, we put Luygef on guard duty, too.  
  
"You know," Arancon said to Felix, "I was cabin boy when your daddy was still around." He seemed to swell with pride. "I would have gone with him when he left, but the others made me stay. But your father - he was like my own, before he met Dafne. I was real jealous, believe you me." He grinned, staring off into space, lost in his reverie. He rubbed his neatly trimmed goatee and mustache several times with his fingers.  
  
"Tell me about your brother," Arancon said suddenly. Leandro and I looked at Felix and then exchanged glances. But she smiled quietly, and her gaze joined Arancon's in space.  
  
"He was the best. My father and Captain when my father and Captain died."  
  
"How poetic," Arancon answered. He looked up at small top deck at the stern. "That his wife?"  
  
Felix turned and saw Dalaga rocking Lakan and talking to some of the women crew who'd joined the semi-mutiny. Her white-gold hair was caught in the wind, spraying back from her face, revealing her noble profile. "Yeah," Felix said casually. "With his son."  
  
Arancon nodded thoughtfully. "Just asking. Must be a good man, to snag a prize like that one."  
  
"Like I said," Felix answered, "he was the best."  
  
"Captain!" called the helmsman, just then. Felix looked up, said goodbye, and dashed off, up the steps. Arancon then watched her go, took a deep breath, and slammed his hands against the railing. "So," he said gamely, "which one of you can say that he loves her more?"  
  
Leandro and I choked on our purp juice, and Arancon laughed. "Honestly, you two colts have it all written all over your face, and nobody's blind to it, not even her..." All three of us looked up then at the helm, where Felix was talking to our new helmsman. While she spoke, she glanced at us once or twice, and then she turned her back to us and leaned facing the stern.  
  
"You boys had a go at each other to decide who gets her?" Arancon asked. We shook our heads, and he snorted. "If you ask me, that's the only way to do it. Won a lot of fillies that way, I did." I looked at Leandro, and he raised an eyebrow at me. He grinned mischievously, teasing, and I answered with a snort like Arancon's. He continued, "Honestly, you can go check the backs of some of the boys in the brig - there's my hoofprints all over..." He grinned madly, and his golden eyes flashed.  
  
Someone called Arancon just then, and he swallowed the last of his ale and tossed his mug to the passing Sylik. His loud, raucous laughter was soon mingling with that of his friends. Leandro gave a small chuckle.  
  
"I think he's cool," he said. I was silent, and I looked back up at Felix.  
  
"Do you think in the end, we'll have to fight over her?" I asked Leandro then.  
  
He scoffed. "Come on, Hawkins. We're pals. I guarantee you, I'll still be pals with you even if she chooses you."  
  
I nodded. "Same here."  
  
Leandro grinned, and we shook hands. "Deal."  
  
He then left me too, to my thoughts.  
  
We were on our way to Wendholme, and from there, I didn't know. The way I saw it, Felix could stay there, among her mother's people, and begin a new life. But that would mean the end of spacing for her... and perhaps also for me and Leandro. See, to return to Montressor meant arrest - for a crime we didn't commit, but an arrest all the same. If we'd managed to clear our names, I'd see my mother again, and Leandro and I would return to the Academy... but still without Felix.  
  
What if Felix chose me? What then? Would I stay on Wendholme with her, and give up spacing, education, and my mother for the girl I loved? We'd grow up and then grow old together, but I wondered if it really was worth leaving behind a life that I already missed...  
  
Leandro - now, Leandro would do just that, without thinking. He'd plunge right into life with Felix if she asked him to. He didn't have a family to go home to on Deukalion, and he only went to the Academy to please his grandmother before she died... He loved the Helikos family - Felix especially - because the old Captain had been as much his father as well. Of course, he'd be thrilled to join the family permanently...  
  
I looked at Leandro then. He was still limping, and he was using a crutch, but he was still able to move enough to horse around with Arancon and the others... He seemed to belong to them already.  
  
"You busy, Jim?"  
  
I turned around suddenly. Felix was standing there, smiling. I shook my head, and she grinned.  
  
"I never thought I'd be so glad to be on a pirate ship," she said with a laugh. "Look, Jim!" She leaned back against the railing while I leaned forward, so we faced each other. But she gestured out at her crew, with members both new and old. I saw what she saw: a group of men, young and old, of all shapes, sizes, and species; all of them at her command. "I'm a Captain," she said aloud, as if realizing it for the first time. "I really am."  
  
I had to smile. I was happy for her. Although how she came to be Captain was rather sad and violent, she did deserve the title. I guessed that at last, she was starting to see how much of a princess she was to us...  
  
I liked watching her. It was like the very first time she stood beside me like that - her eyes bright, her smile soft, her hair escaping her ties to play in the wind... Her scent, faint thought it was, reached out in little tendrils, as if calling me to her. I suddenly wanted to take her hand and slowly pull her close.  
  
"I wonder what'll happen to us on Wendholme," she said suddenly. She gave a strange, embarrassed chuckle and looked down at her feet, blushing. "Leandro said that they'd welcome me, like a princess. But I doubt they'd know me at all."  
  
"Of course they'd know you," I said. "You are a princess."  
  
She wrinkled her nose at the horizon. "And I suppose there's a prince there waiting for me?" she said skeptically. Then she blinked, realizing what she'd just said. She whispered, mostly to herself, "There are two, aren't there...?"  
  
Before I could answer, she straightened up and left, suddenly in a hurry. 


	28. Stripes

Author's Note: I will not be switching to HTML, recalling that I already said I'd finish the whole thing on Notepad... This part and the next are partly inspired by the chapters "Peshamba" and "Changing Partners" in Tanith Lee's Law of the Wolf Tower. Wendholme itself is partly inspired by James Gurney's Dinotopia (where the Denisons first find the lost continent). Read both books; they're worth your time.  
  
No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 29: Stripes  
  
Several soldiers - yes, I knew they were soldiers now - encircled Felix and the King, and they disappeared through tall double doors behind the throne. Meanwhile, numerous pretty, giggling girls came from doors in the side, to the crew's obvious delight. They were clothed in light, cloth dresses with woven grass hems colored blue and green. Those in green led those injured in the storm, like Leandro, through one door, and the rest of us followed the ones in blue through another.  
  
They took us out through another hallway, and then out into a large courtyard lush with trees, flowers, and grass. Across this courtyard, there was another beautiful stone building, and it was here that they brought us; up some steps, and into separate rooms. I shared one with Sylik, Baewong, and later, Leandro.  
  
They gave us clothes; yes, woven cloth and grass. I opted for cloth trousers, but some of the crew gave the grass ones a try. Everyone was in high spirits, especially when we were presented with dress coats; there was a banquet tonight, in honor of the arrival of their Princess and her men. We grinned when we heard the last part; we were guests of honor, too.  
  
You must understand that this planet had a culture so different from those I'd already seen, and that is why I'm taking pains to describe everything I saw.  
  
The coat was of a fine, woven off-white cloth and had sleeves cut just past the elbow. There was a thick stripe of dyed woven grass sewn into the coat that went from the shoulder and down to the bottom of the coat, which was at the hips. The coat was loose, and worn over a bare chest with trousers that reached just past the knees and also made of the same pale-colored cloth. We had to admit that it was a pretty simple costume for a royal banquet, but we were soon to learn that the people of Wendholme lived simple lives.  
  
After we'd freshened up, some of the girls returned to teach us to dance; once more to the crew's delight. As we practiced, my partner, orange-haired Mariel, gave me a short lecture on her planet and its ways.  
  
Wendholme wasn't even its real name; it was only Captain Stefan who christened it that for the records he filed at Takara. The traditional name was Mirandus. The people here were a mix of races. There had been a forgotten people, the planet's natives. But spacers who had been shipwrecked or simply in search of secret, silent retirement had joined their tribe.  
  
As for their apparent obsession with the ocean, there was really not much else they could do, for theirs was a seaside city, and they depended mostly on the ocean for food. Yes, there were the mountains and forest that Felix loved just as much, but in a way, the ocean held for the people what space held and still holds for me. But unlike the vast emptiness of the etherium, the ocean was brimming with all kinds of life, like the dolphins I had yet to see for myself.  
  
The dolphin was the chosen... symbol? for royalty, because of the creature's traits, which Mariel said were akin to those of the royal family. They were playful and cheery, and could be seen having fun with even the smallest children of the city. But when the time to play was over, the dolphins proved themselves wise, and protective of what was dear to them...  
  
As for Stefan Alvés, he had helped them keep their code; he had done more than repay the citizens' hospitality by saving the King's life. How he came to be endangered in such a peaceful place, I didn't know. But Mariel's eyes darkened when she spoke of it, and she wouldn't go further. I didn't want to pry.  
  
Leandro joined us later in the dance lesson, fully-healed by Mirandus arts. If possible, this had lifted his spirits even higher, and he grinned like there was no tomorrow.  
  
The girls brought us food and then left us to ourselves, to eat our snack and then prepare for the banquet.  
  
I looked myself over in the mirror, feeling a bit uncomfortable. The cloth was soft to touch, and the clothes fit as if they were made for me - for all I know, perhaps they were. But I felt that they didn't FIT who I was. I had half a mind to pull out my trousers and boots again; barefoot in a palace was strange. My roommates felt the same. Leandro, however, loved playing the part. He grinned roguishly in the mirror, checking the blue stripe in his coat against the streaks in his black hair. Baewong shrugged. "I'm here for the food." Sylik agreed.  
  
==  
  
We entered the rotunda again together, led by two guards, all of us dressed in those coats with stripes of all the colors of the etherium - except violet, which by now we'd realized was reserved for royalty.  
  
Some of us felt dignified, and others embarrassed; still more were like Baewong, and in it for a party and some food. But the double doors opened, and in came the King and Queen. We followed the soldiers and bowed from the waist.  
  
The King and Queen were dressed in long robes that reached their ankled. They had two stripes like ours, from the shoulder to the end. The inner was violet, and the outer was blue. Returning our bow, they smiled, and there was such familiarity that several soldiers gave loud, cheery yells.  
  
The doors opened again. 


	29. The Royal Banquet

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 30: The Royal Banquet  
  
In stepped Felix, looking small in that high-ceilinged rotunda, smiling bashfully. My breath caught in my throat. She was... exquisite.  
  
They'd put a new crown of flowers in her hair; the petals were white, green, and violet against her silky brown hair. Her hair hung down her back like a glossy sheet, catching the light whichever way she moved. She was not in a coat or a stately robe, but in a white strapless dress that stopped just past her knees. There were two stripes at the hem, one green and one violet. I caught sight of a delicate shell anklet, just above her left foot.  
  
Her green eyes shone, and she blushed so beautifully. She was still our Felix, and that was what embarrassed her; here she stood, before her crew, as something we had all seen all along. This princess business was new to her, but not to us. And just knowing that, and seeing her shy smile, made us all smile back.  
  
All were silent as the King stepped to her and took something from the folds of his robe and clasped it around her neck: a tiny violet circlet like his and his Queen's.  
  
The doors through which we'd first entered opened, and through it we heard a great cheer as we saw the faces of the city of Mirandus break into smiles. Everyone, apparently, was invited.  
  
They were already seated at the seven long tables that reached from the steps of the palace to the end of the street - yes, the street was wide and the people and food were many - but they rose and raised their cups to the royal family. We followed behind, and the guards split us into two different lines. We filed past Felix, I smiling and Leandro winking, and went to our seats. Then the King and Queen descended in their stately manner. Felix followed, hands clasped shyly behind her back, youthful and glowing to her seat next to her grandfather.  
  
The banquet began after the King spoke in their unknown language, but when he gestured at us, and then at Felix, the entire city cheered for us. It was our turn to feel embarrassed; we didn't even know what exactly it was we'd done for them to treat us so kindly.  
  
When he sat down, singing - yes, singing - waiters and waitresses emerged from within the buildings, laden with plates and trays of exotic-looking and no doubt exotic-tasting food. All sorts of smells filled our nostrils, and soon the matching sights were set before us. The King gave another call, and we took it to mean "Dig in!" when those at the other tables did just that.  
  
Between mouthfuls, the crew would chat with each other, and between chatting, I'd look at Felix's end of the table. I'd never seen her this happy before, except perhaps in my dream... I looked at Leandro, and he was watching her, too. Warmth and yearning filled his pale blue eyes, and I realized that I must have looked at Felix the same way, with a foolish half-smile on my face, thinking it was secret when everyone else knew all along.  
  
It was just that... she was so beautiful that night - the same Felix I knew, yet different somehow. Maybe it was the humongous full silver moon, or the sparse scattering of stars, or the warm breeze that came from the sea. But something that night had made me even more enchanted with this strange and wonderful girl...  
  
A band of musicians arrived and set themselves up at the corner of the palace steps. There was a cry of delight from the crowd, and they all stood up. We stood, too, wondering what the commotion was. And suddenly, the soldiers came and took the benches away, swiftly, hurriedly. They also carried the tables and set them at the end of the street, still with the plates on them and with no food or drink spilled. Those who still wanted to eat could follow. Those who wanted to dance...  
  
Yes, the band began to play, with light and bubbly music, fast-paced and fun. I was about to step back when Leandro grabbed my arm and pulled us into one of the circles forming. Mariel caught my hand again and asked me if I remembered the steps, and I had to grin sheepishly, my head lost in a whirl. But we had fun.  
  
For an hour or so, it was like that, and then the music slowed. It was time to dance with partners. I looked around for Felix, wondering how to ask her, not sure if I remembered the steps at all. Leandro had beaten me to her. 


	30. Dancing Close to the Edge

No Ordinary voyage, Chapter 31: Dancing Close to the Edge  
  
I sighed and looked for Mariel, but apparently, she was already dancing with a softspoken, dark-haired waiter. Another girl took my hand, and she smiled. I didn't answer, and instead tried to sail over to Felix's side of the street.  
  
"Didn't I tell you?" Leandro was saying, "You're not a pirate. You're a princess."  
  
She laughed nervously, and looked down at her feet. Somehow I didn't like the way Leandro held her. Believe me, he wasn't a bad dancer. But in this dance, you pulled your partner close enough to stare deeply into her eyes, to whisper softly in her ear, to hear her tinkling laughter in your own... Yes, all right, yes, I was jealous.  
  
Somehow I didn't like the way Felix looked with him. She looked as if her hand had no other purpose that night than to fit Leandro's so nicely, that to be in the crook of his arm and tightening the weave between them was the best, most natural thing in the world. And when she looked back up, their eyes met, and hers seemed to widen a moment in awe and realization. She blinked, and he smiled. Not a mean, cold smirk like the one he'd worn in my dream, but warm, hopeful, and filled with the best intentions.  
  
I could smile like that, I thought. And sure enough, I was given a chance. The music changed, and Felix spun out of his arms and into mine.  
  
"Hi, Jim," she said softly, brightly. "Do you like it here?"  
  
I nodded, forgetting that she had ever danced with Leandro, my own smile coming naturally to my face. Hers could light up her eyes and the skies. "It's a beautiful place," I said. Then I swallowed and spoke the truth. "I couldn't imagine you being any happier, anywhere else..."  
  
She cocked her head curiously, looking at me intently and grinning. "Not even on Montressor, Jim?"  
  
I smiled wryly, but I had to shake my head. "No. Not even on Montressor. You - you seem to belong here."  
  
Her smile went down to a catlike smile, and she raised an eyebrow. "And you, Jim? Where do you belong?"  
  
I didn't answer; I simply looked down. So, she continued. "When Captain Doppler referred you to us, Jim, she told us that when you came to her, you had the spirit of a spacer, and when you left, you had the discipline as well... Is that why you're so serious, I mean, compared to me and - and Leandro? You never did tell me what happened then."  
  
My mind went back to my life on the Legacy, with Captain Amelia, Doctor Doppler, and John Silver... I shook my head. "I was in a lot of trouble. Sailing on the Legacy saved me. I had to do a lot of growing up." That, of course, was an understatement. But she nodded, understanding.  
  
"You look amazing tonight, Jim," she said, changing the subject. I furrowed my brow in confusion, and she laughed softly, sweetly. "No, I mean it. I can tell you feel uncomfortable in Mirandus clothes." She was right, because holding her this close to my bare skin was affecting me so terribly. "But you still look nice in them."  
  
I shrugged, embarrassed, and I looked up from my feet to look into her eyes. "You look - " And then I stopped, my words - and my breath - caught in my throat. The wind blew, and the scent of her hair mingling with the flowers seemed to call me to her. Her green eyes twinkled like crystal, clear and bright. There was a natural glow on her cheeks from the moon, and her soft pink lips turned up at the corners into a smile.  
  
"Can I kiss you?" I whispered suddenly. "Just this once?"  
  
Her eyes dimmed, and she broke our gaze, shifting hers way, to my hair. Her smile faltered, and she fingered the collar of my coat.  
  
She changed the topic again. "My grandfather wants me to stay here," she said. "On Mirandus. Wendholme."  
  
I blinked. "Will you?"  
  
She sighed. "I'll think about it... But in any case, they're repairing the Drombeat. Hicxon's in jail, by the way; they emptied the brig last night... Anyway, that's that. They're fixing the ship. It'll set sail in two or three days. With or without me."  
  
My heart sank. "Who'll be the Captain if you stay? I - We love you; you're our Princess."  
  
She smiled sadly and looked over her shoulder at the other people dancing, at those sitting down, at the laughing, happy city. "I'm their Princess, too."  
  
"It's only been a day," I said, praying fervently that she'd still be there. "Surely you can't have decided in just a day."  
  
She chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, you're right. I can't have decided in just a day. But maybe you're right, Jim. Maybe I belong here." She sighed. "If I decide to stay, Luygef will be Captain. He was next in rank... and you and Leandro will be taken home, to the Academy."  
  
"Me and Leandro?" I asked, surprised. She looked her saddest then, and I felt that I'd ruined the night.  
  
"Yes. You and Leandro both."  
  
"And - and if you went with us?"  
  
She looked at me again. "I'd stay on the ship, and wave goodbye to you."  
  
The music changed, and before she moved away again, she softly kissed me on the cheek and looked up into my eyes. I didn't know if tears were forming in her eyes, because they were beginning in my own. "Take care, Jim." 


	31. Truth Like Crystal

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 32: Truth like Crystal  
  
Felix pulled away from me and turned to dance with one of the young soldiers. I sat the rest of the dances out. I left the banquet early, asking one of the guides to take me back to my room. I wasn't feeling well.  
  
She was right. She was always right. She couldn't come with us to the Academy, because she didn't belong there. She'd only be bored on Montressor. She wouldn't return to Takara. Arancon and some of his men were going to testify that Peter Helikos and the crew of the Interloper were never involved in any raid, but she still wouldn't come. And somehow, I realized that she didn't belong in space. All she ever really wanted, needed, was to be where her family was.  
  
True, she and Peter had seen us, the crew, as part of the family also. But she knew, and we all knew, that we didn't really belong on Wendholme. We were only passing through; each of us had our own homes to return to. But for her - for her, even the air of Mirandus seemed to sing her name.  
  
==  
  
I woke up in the middle of the night with Baewong and Sylik already there, asleep. I couldn't get back to sleep, so I pulled on the sandals set out for me, and I decided to take a walk around the city.  
  
The streets were quiet, and I found that it was hard to lose myself there. Each street was really just a branch from the main street of the palace. It would then go on till a dead end, and you'd turn around again. Mariel had told me that they were layouted like fishbones, with the palace at the head, and the beach for the tail...  
  
I went all the way down to the beach, feeling the fine sand and the salty water between my toes for the first time. The moon had long since set, and all I could stare at were the stars on the horizon...  
  
The echo of soft laughter reached my ears, and I looked up. I walked along the sand, curious, and followed the sound to a group of trees around a crystal blue lagoon. Hiding behind the tree, I saw that it was Felix who had laughed. She was skipping stones across the surface of the water with Leandro.  
  
Did he know? I wondered. Did he know that she'd be leaving him, too? Or had she told me first? The look on his face, you see, was one of boyish happiness.  
  
The light from the stars reflected off the water, and I watched their reflections. Leandro had taken his coat off, baring his torso and the tattoo-like markings on his back. Felix still wore her crown of flowers and her dress. She slipped, but Leandro's arm went quickly around her waist before she could fall in. They laughed again, and Felix dipped her toes in the water and splashed him lightly.  
  
What were they doing here so late? Where were her guards? Weren't the King and Queen worried? I was...  
  
Her giggles trailed off as he caught and held her gaze, and he smiled once again the way he did when they danced. I saw the smile reflected in the way she looked at him - the way, I realized, that she never looked at me.  
  
He bent his head and caught her lips, and her eyes closed in acceptance of him, of what he felt, and perhaps of what she felt as well... Cold gripped me then; I shook with the realization of what I was seeing. When I kissed Felix at the edge of the pool, she slapped me and ran away. But when Leandro kissed Felix at the edge of this pool, she kissed back, letting him wrap his tattooed arms around her, combing his blue-streaked black hair with her delicate fingers...  
  
I left the secret pool and ran back to the beach, back into the city, dazed. Struggling to catch my breath, I stumbled into one of the side streets and sat down, leaning against the cold, hard stone walls. I buried my head in my hands, trying to push the image out of my mind - the image of Felix finally admitting love... for someone else.  
  
I somehow made it back to bed, and I was silent as Leandro crept back in, singing softly to himself. His body was crawling into bed, but his heart was still at the crystal pool. Mine, however, was broken.  
  
Author's Note: I know someone out there is mad at me. Don't ask me why I did it; maybe you'll see for yourself later... If you've read Demon Drums by Anne McCaffrey, you might be able to imagine the markings on Leandro's skin (they're not tattoos, just tattoo-like; you might recall my saying that all people from his planet have them). If not, then just imagine the black swirly tattoos on Polynesian warriors. 


	32. Fisherman

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 33: Fisherman  
  
When morning came, it seemed that I could not be pulled out of my daze. Breakfast was at a long table beneath the color-changing sky at sunrise, in the courtyard with the king and queen. We sat at the same places we had used the previous night - the royalty at one end, and us crew afterward, down to the end.  
  
Leandro was in very high spirits, though I suppose only a few of us that morning knew exactly why. But it wouldn't be long before it spread; he kept casting winks and teasing glances down to the other end of the table. And Felix... Perhaps it was just the sunrise, but her cheeks flushed brightly in a gorgeous glow. What I hated was that I wasn't the cause for it.  
  
After breakfast, I wandered out of the colorful stone palace and back into the streets of Mirandus, now brimming with as much life as Felix said the sea did. The sea itself seemed to pull me toward her, past the cheery vendors and the giggling children, the friendly soldiers and the pretty maids, down the cobbled street in my bare feet to the sand once again...  
  
It wasn't quiet there, for there were fishermen - I found out this title of theirs afterward - getting ready to push off. Some of them were going to market. Some of them would return with offerings for another royal feast. Mariel had told me to expect feasting for two more nights. I didn't feel like going anymore.  
  
"Ser, uban ka sa amua?"  
  
I looked up, pulled out of my reverie... One of the dark-skinned, grinning fishermen was gesturing out at his ship. Well, it wasn't a ship, really, but like a longboat. Only, this one was narrower, and had long poles on either side - pontoons, I learned again later, for balance. I didn't understand.  
  
"Sige na, ser. Lingaw kaayo, uban ka sa amua. Mangita ta'g isda. Tudluan ka namo..."  
  
I believed he wanted me to get into the boat, for that was where he pointed, and his fellow fishermen were grinning similarly and clearing out a space for me. I nodded dumbly, not really knowing why I agreed to go. Perhaps it was for temporary escape from the city of that girl. So I soon found myself settled among the nets, watching them control the wind with their sail, cutting through the clean, shimmering blue ocean. Momentarily, I lost myself in the life of a fisherman.  
  
Lakan Tabing-Dagat was the head of the fleet, and he spoke our language. "To be a fisherman of Mirandus is an honor," he said, "the planet is small, so small that in a few hours, you can circle her in a boat like this." As he spoke, he lovingly stroked the mast of his sailboat. He gave his lecture as I watched the other men work. "Since she is that small, the city needs only several men to support her. If we were more, we would overfish."  
  
The man beside me dove just as another one, climbed, dripping, aboard, clutching a knife between his teeth and a small, full net in one hand. "There is not enough land - that you can see very plainly - for cattle and crops. So we depend on the sea. But we cannot abuse her generosity." Dagat took the net as he spoke and thrust it across the water, into another boat.  
  
After more pointers from Dagat, he gave me a small net, and I dove into the water. It was wonderfully cool to the skin, and I enjoyed the exercise of trying to catch fish. Mirandus fishermen, though, were incredibly fast and skilled after years of experience, and next to them I could do nothing. But three fish on my first try, Dagat said, wasn't bad.  
  
I know I'd said that I had a fear of falling into water, but plunging into it willingly, and finding such a beautiful world underneath, took my fear and my breath away - yes, I had to surface almost immediately after the first dive. There are creatures there unlike any I have ever seen, and more of them teeming there than all the ships at the spaceport back home. Perhaps the reason why I didn't catch so many fish is because I was too busy marveling at their world. This was the beauty that was immortalized in the palace walls.  
  
Sadly, eventually, I had to return to those walls. I'd offered to help Dagat and his men take the catch to the market, but he shook his head, saying that I had to prepare for the night's feast. I tagged along anyway, putting it off for as long as possible, and tried to distract myself in the market with all the exotic, strange-smelling, multi-colored - and many-sounded - goods. That proved to be a bad idea as well.  
  
Leandro and Felix were at a trinket stand, examining the beads and shells. Felix was chattering away in the strange Mirandus tongue with the shopkeeper, who looked so pleased that the princess had come to his shop. Leandro looked just as pleased - maybe even more - that he was with her, too. I soon realized: most likely, they'd been seen together the whole day. No scandalous rumors, but the knowing, aren't-they-sweet-together glances that the shopkeepers exchanged told me enough. Blast, damn, and bloody hell, it seemed that the whole planet approved of Leandro.  
  
Maybe it was because he was like all of them - he was a mixed breed, and so was Felix. Mirandus seemed to be the very epitome of a melting pot. No matter who - or what - you were, you could fit in if you wanted.  
  
And I realized, watching them together, joining the radiance of Mirandus, not on this tiny planet. Everyone on it was so rooted to home, to each other. Even the fishermen, who seemed to love the sea most of all, were always happy to go home at the end of the day. I wanted to be a spacer, and I didn't want too many roots. There was my mother, yes. But I would always return to the incredible glory of space, the etherium. To me, that was a home to go to.  
  
It sounds harsh to you, maybe. And maybe I was just jealous. But it dawned on me that late afternoon: There was nothing that would hold me down. Not on this planet. Not even Felix, not even if she'd chosen me. 


	33. The Castoff

No Ordinary Voyage, Chapter 34: The Castoff  
  
I spent the last two nights of feasting at the beach, away from the party. Of course, because we sat at the royal table, I joined the dinner. But when the time came to dance and play, I'd slip away, to the sea, where the sky was the clearest and the largest.  
  
After checking my bearings, I could soon identify Montressor: a tiny yellow dot, faint and distant. Tomorrow, I thought, I'm going to be on my way back there. And I'll be out of here at last. Off the crew, and into my life again... I didn't know whether I should have been happy or sad; somehow being on Mirandus brought a kind of catharsis, and I felt cleansed of strong emotions.  
  
"Something wrong, Jim?"  
  
I didn't answer at first. I simply tightened my cheek and continued to stare out at my own planet, vaguely wondering what Doctor Doppler was up to now, and whether he'd finished his paper on our voyage to Treasure Planet already.  
  
"No," I said truthfully. "Just... just feeling kinda restless, that's all."  
  
Felix laughed. "Guess you're homesick, huh?"  
  
Again, I didn't answer, and I didn't ask her to sit down. I desired her, yes, but she didn't belong to me, and little by little, I accepted it. I didn't want her to come too close, because that would only reawaken some tortured part of me that I'd already put to rest.  
  
She sat down beside me on the sand. Blast. She followed my gaze and recognized Montressor almost immediately. "I bet you can't wait to go home," she said softly.  
  
I nodded. I think she was hurt when I did that, but I was trying not to care, trying to keep my eyes on that faraway yellow speck. Why would she be hurt anyway? She had a city of people to love her. One person like me wouldn't make a difference...  
  
"I saw you at the lagoon the other night," I said suddenly, calmly, breaking the silence. I decided that she had to know that I already knew about her and Leandro. Indeed, I sensed her surprise.  
  
"I - we - what were you doing there?"  
  
I shrugged, expressionless. "I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk and came here. I heard someone's voice and followed it. It was yours." And I stopped there.  
  
"Oh," was all she could say. I snorted. "I - "  
  
She cut herself off, wondering what she could say. We both knew, really, that there was nothing for her to explain.  
  
So we sat there, in silence, at the edge of the sea, her knees tucked up under her chin, and me leaning back on my wrists in the sand. That would have been an incredibly romantic moment. If things were different, we'd have been laughing, teasing, linking fingers, stealing kisses... But they weren't. We sat there, in silence, watching the sky for nothing at all.  
  
"For what it's worth," she whispered, "I care about you too. But..."  
  
But not enough, I finished silently. I nodded, letting it, her, and everything else go.  
  
==  
  
Morning found me aboard the Drombeat, clothed once again in a spacer's wardrobe, one that I fit more comfortably. I never really did feel the romance of the city - no bare feet and woven cloth for me. I seem a killjoy now, but don't worry. I'm still me, James Pleiades Hawkins, Jim, Jimbo...  
  
Felix stepped aboard as well; she was the last, and on her last voyage. Leandro was not at her side this time; he was brooding at the stern, realizing at last just how much he'd miss her. He was again in spacer clothes, and Felix, too. Leandro looked good in almost anything - whether as a guest of the Mirandus court or as a spacer, he was at all times casual. But after seeing Felix among her people, she didn't seem to fit in on a ship anymore. She was the guest this time; Luygef was already Captain.  
  
"It feels strange to be back on here. I feel strange, Jim," she said, suddenly at my side again. I wondered why she kept coming back.  
  
She sat on a barrel and slumped forward, resting her head atop her arms folded on the railing. The summer was ending, so we all had long coats on, and for once, Felix wore full-length pants, and boots instead of light shoes or sandals. Her hair, once again, was pulled away from her face, capped with a green bandanna. It looked exactly like the one I'd caught in the wind on the first day, but we both knew that it was lost when the Interloper was lost...  
  
"You know..." she began, "if Peter were still here, I'd still be on the ship. I'd still be First Mate, and he'd still be Captain, and we'd continue sailing. And instead of going home to Takara, we'd go to Wendholme. Mirandus." She smiled at the horizon. "We'd have a real home at last to go home to..."  
  
She sighed and fished a piece of fruit out of her pocket. Biting into it, she continued, "But he's not here anymore, and I don't think I could go on sailing without him. He was at my side in all that emptiness, and to tell you the truth, the etherium scared me to death. That's why I can't bear the memory of losing him to that emptiness, or the thought of facing it without him."  
  
"And going to the Academy... That would have been nice, I'm sure. I would have been with you, wouldn't I?" and she laughed. "I'd've been with Leandro, too..." She blew some stray hair out of her face. "But now that I think about it, I wouldn't have been happy, there, either. I would have wanted to get out, and back to my family, my brother's side and crew."  
  
"No," she said, thinking aloud. "No, I need a break from running, from being hated, from feeling lost, from feeling unwanted. I need a break, Jim."  
  
And she did. There was nothing, I knew, that she wanted more, than to be home, home where she could stay, where she was loved, where she was wanted. Everybody needs a break. Hers was on a tiny, forgotten jewel of a planet. Mine was in the space that surrounded it; it was in space where I found myself, and it was, therefore, in space that I would make my home.  
  
Felix did something unexpected then. She took my hand, and laced her fingers with mine. They were warm, and of course, beautiful fingers. "Well, Jim, I guess it's time that we bring this voyage of ours to a close."  
  
I nodded, and was not surprised to find myself smiling at her again. Her brown hair fanned out in the breeze, changing into golden-red colors in the sunlight. Her glittering green eyes at last showed relief from the pain I'd seen when I'd first stepped aboard her ship. On her soft, pink lips played a tiny smile. We were both going home. 


	34. EPILOGUE

No Ordinary Voyage, EPILOGUE  
  
The Drombeat was sold, but the crew refused to disband. After clearing their late Captain's name as well as their own, they built another ship, the Blue Javelin. Under Captain Luygef Pomololok, the Javelin and her crew carried goods and passengers from Montressor to the Deukalion Ten and back. At the end of every year, the Javelin took berth at Mirandus, where the Princess Felixa would meet them as they docked between two, old, thick-trunked trees.  
  
Dalaga Helikos remarried after three years, finally putting an end to a palace soldier's courtship. Together, they raised Lakan as well as two more children of their own.  
  
Leandro Simaun dropped out of the Interstellar Space Academy as soon as his grandmother died, one year after our voyage on the Interloper. He boarded as soon as the Javelin came to port and sailed with her till she stopped at the end of the year. He boarded with a fisherman's family and was later accepted into the royal guild of artisans by his own talent.  
  
Felix's grandparents were still alive and well, and still King and Queen, but already they had been advising her, teaching her everything they knew about ruling a planet. The planet already loved her, and she found no trouble as she walked among her people in the streets.  
  
From Baewong's reports, Felix grew more beautiful with every year, but she never lost that spacer's ferocity - despite her decision to give up sailing - that she'd inherited from her father and brother. And she married that lucky Leandro on his twenty-first birthday. The Prince and Princess had a son the next year, Marko Peter Simaun.  
  
I graduated from the Academy after three years and soon found work aboard the RLS Steadfast. After a while, I also took a leave and boarded the Javelin with my daughter, Aaren Sophia, whose mother and my wife had died when she was two.  
  
That was the beginning of our yearly vacations on Mirandus, and the strengthening of a friendship I could never forget. Felix and Leandro, to this day, have been my best friends. Felix especially. Even after all these years, I can expect to land on her shores and find her, with her catlike grace and teasing smile, with her piercing, searching green eyes, and with her hair that subtly changed colors in the salty sun. 


End file.
